Following two reports that were released on Tuesday, Congress is looking into new whistleblower accusations made by the former head of security for Twitter, and some are urging top federal criminal enforcement officials to follow suit.
What Are the Twitter Whistleblower Claims
According to a report by The Verge, a testimony from the company's former head of security, the renowned hacker-turned-cybersecurity-expert Peiter "Mudge" Zatko, said that Twitter has concealed unsafe security practices, misled federal regulators about its safety, and failed to accurately estimate the number of bots on its platform.
More than 200 pages of his complaints were collected and published in redacted form on Tuesday by CNN and The Washington Post.
As retribution for his refusal to keep silent about the company's flaws, Zatko claims he was sacked by Twitter in January. He filed a lawsuit against Twitter last month with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), alleging that the company had misled shareholders and had breached a security standards agreement it had with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, may face heavy fines as a result of the explosive charges, and his attempt to acquire Twitter may fall apart.
Twitter's Response to Zatko's Allegations
After Zatko was fired from Twitter in January for his alleged subpar performance, the company's current CEO, Parag Agrawal, asserted that the whistleblower is fabricating a story about the inner workings of the social media giant, according to a separate report by The Verge.
A Twitter representative said in a statement to CNN that Zatko's accusations were "riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies" and appeared designed to garner more attention and inflict harm on Twitter, its customers, and its shareholders.
Someone Backed One of Zatko's Claims
Details provided by Al Sutton, a former software engineer at Twitter, appeared to back one of Zatko's allegations that too many people are allowed access to important information within the company.
Sutton claimed in a tweet, which we embed below, that despite having left the social giant 18 months ago, he was still able to contribute code to the open-source software repositories maintained by Twitter for its employees on the website GitHub.
However, shortly after he posted this to Twitter, Sutton's account was removed as a contributor, according to The Verge.
Friends and Colleagues Say Zatko Is 'Credible, Capable and Brutally Honest'
In contrast to what Twitter's assessment of Zatko's character, his friends and coworkers said he is "a credible, capable, and brutally honest security expert."
Security industry leaders have already jumped to Zatko's public defense, as per the report The Verge.
Security industry leaders have already jumped to Zatko's public defense, as per the report The Verge. Kim Zetter, a prominent cybersecurity journalist, said there was "probably no security exec with more ethics, more credibility than Mudge."
Meanwhile, industrial security specialist Robert M. Lee accused Twitter of a smear campaign, saying Mudge's skills and leadership were "some of the most beloved and well documented in the community."
A software engineer and internet security expert named Alec Muffett also defended the Twitter whistleblower. He claimed that he had known Zatko for a very long time and believed the statements made in the SEC declaration.
