Twitter Allowed Chinese, Indian Agents on Payroll, Whistleblower Claims

Twitter whistleblower Peiter “Mudge” Zatko on Tuesday alleged that the microblogging platform knowingly allowed India so as to add brokers to the corporate’s roster doubtlessly offering the nation with entry to delicate knowledge about customers on the platform, whereas “at least one agent” from China’s intelligence service was employed by the corporate. In his testimony earlier than the US Senate Committee, Zatko claimed that Twitter is placing the privateness of its customers in danger, including that the corporate’s management ignored its engineers, whereas their government incentives led them to prioritise revenue over safety. Twitter responded to those claims saying its hiring course of is “independent of any foreign influence” and entry to knowledge is managed by means of a number of measures.

As per a report by the Associated Press, in his testimony, Twitter’s former safety chief Peiter Zatko stated that the corporate knowingly allowed the Indian and Chinese governments to put its brokers on the corporate’s payroll. According to Zatko, the brokers might have accessed the corporate’s methods and person knowledge. The Twitter whistleblower stated that weak cyber defences made the social platform weak to exploitation by “teenagers, thieves and spies”, risking customers’ privateness.

Zatko, whereas showing earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee alleged that the corporate ignored its engineers as a result of their “executive incentives led them to prioritise profit over security.” Zatko stated Twitter’s safety methods are outdated and that it runs weak software program on greater than half of its knowledge centre servers.

He outlined Twitter’s negligence in coping with governments that sought to put spies within the microblogging service. He added that Twitter’s incapacity to trace how staff accessed person accounts made it troublesome for the platform to detect the potential misuse of knowledge entry on the service.

According to the report, Zatko, who was the pinnacle of safety for Twitter till he was fired early this yr stated he spoke with “high confidence” a couple of international agent that the federal government of India positioned on Twitter to “understand the negotiations” between India’s ruling occasion and Twitter about new social media restrictions and the way properly these negotiations have been going.

The whistleblower additionally revealed that he was advised a couple of week earlier than his firing that “at least one agent” from the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) was “on the payroll” on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Zatko has accused his former employer of cybersecurity negligence saying it didn’t tackle “basic systemic failures” advisable by engineers. Zatko additionally accused Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and different senior executives and board members of quite a few violations, together with making “false and misleading statements to users and the FTC about Twitter’s safety.

Twitter reportedly denied Zatko’s claims, calling his description of events “a false narrative … riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies” and missing vital context. In a press release to the Associated Press, the microblogging platform stated its hiring course of is “independent of any foreign influence” and entry to knowledge is managed by means of a number of measures, together with background checks, entry controls, and monitoring and detection methods and processes.