The nation owes an immeasurable debt to Elon Musk for pulling back the curtain on this nefarious enterprise….

It’s even worse than we thought – spying and sabotage from hostile foreign actors.

Famed hacker blows whistle on Twitter, claims app is risk to national security https://t.co/sRyvt5aQrc via @nypost

— Sports Fan Jimmy (@sc62810275) August 23, 2022

Famed hacker blows whistle on Twitter, claims app is risk to national security

By Ariel Zilber, NY Post,  Aufust 23, 2022:

A well-known “ethical hacker” who was hired by Twitter to overhaul its cybersecurity alleged that the social media giant has become a security risk for the US after it reneged on a deal with the federal government to set up a system that adequately protects user data.

Peiter “Mudge” Zatko — a software engineer who became a star in the hacker community after leading a 1990s-era group called “Cult of the Dead Cow” — filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging widespread dysfunction at Twitter.

Zatko was named head of security by Twitter two years ago after the company was victimized by embarrassing glitches, including the commandeering by hackers of high-profile accounts belonging to the likes of Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Joe Biden, Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos, Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, and Mike Bloomberg.

But in a filing with the federal government which was first obtained by The Washington Post and CNN, Zatko alleges that Twitter has failed to adhere to a deal with the Federal Trade Commission to plug the cybersecurity holes that led to the hacks.

Zatko accused Twitter of failing to upgrade its server infrastructure, most of which he says is out of date — thus leaving it vulnerable to severe breaches.

He also said that Twitter’s failure to safeguard the data of its 238 million users — among them government agencies, heads of state, and defense officials — poses a national security risk.

Twitter often loses track of user data even when accounts are deleted, Zatko alleges — a violation of a pledge the company made to the FTC more than a decade ago.

Zatko also accused Twitter of allowing low- and mid-level workers access to the company’s most sensitive controls — potentially making the firm vulnerable to spying and sabotage from hostile foreign actors.

He claims he was fired by the San Francisco-based company early this year after he flagged these issues to superiors.

Zatko alleges that Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal discouraged him from providing an accurate account of the web site’s cybersecurity lapses in his reports to the board of directors.

Zatko describes a tense relationship with Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, who is accused of discouraging the then-executive of giving the company board a full accounting of the site’s security flaws.

Instead, Zatko alleges, he was told to give a misleadingly glowing report to the board in order to deceive it into thinking the company was addressing its safety lapses while concealing the true scope of the problem.

Zatko also appears to back Elon Musk’s claim that the company is not making adequate efforts to crack down on the proliferation of automated “bot” and spam accounts.

Keep reading…..

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.