THE SQUIZ
Twitter’s former security chief Peiter Zatko has turned whistleblower, and in an 84-page complaint filed with US officials, he says the company misled regulators and has been negligent in stopping the spread of disinformation. After the complaint became public yesterday, several members of Congress called on regulators to investigate the claims that Twitter has poor cybersecurity defences and hasn’t done enough to delete fake accounts. “Take a tech platform that collects massive amounts of user data, combine it with what appears to be an incredibly weak security infrastructure, and infuse it with foreign state actors with an agenda, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster,” senior Republican Chuck Grassley said. Yesterday Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal told staff that Zatko’s complaint is “a false narrative that is riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies.”

SO ISN’T THIS WHAT ELON MUSK WAS SAYING?
Yes. Musk, who is still on the hook to buy Twitter for $64 billion, is trying to get out of the deal because he says the company hasn’t been upfront about spam and automated accounts. In his complaint, Zatko said Twitter is reluctant to find out how many bot accounts are on the platform because “if the true number became public, it could harm the company’s value and image.” If that is the case, legal experts say it’s a smoking gun that could help Musk get out of the deal. Twitter is suing Musk to force him to complete his proposed acquisition, and a trial is scheduled to begin on 17 October.

SO WHO IS PEITER ZATKO?
It’s a good question because by now, you’re probably getting the impression that his word carries a bit of weight. Better known by his hacker handle ‘Mudge’, Zatko is a highly respected cybersecurity expert who became well known in the 90s when he was credited with inventing a tool to crack passwords. He then became a sought-after consultant and has worked in senior positions at the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Agency and Google. He was brought to Twitter by then-CEO Jack Dorsey in late 2020 after hackers broke into the accounts of world leaders, celebrities and tech moguls. Zatko says his attempts to get the company to deal with the problems were rebuffed. And to shut down any brewing conspiracy theories about his motivation to make the complaint, Zatko says he doesn’t know Musk. Meanwhile, Twitter says he was fired at the start of this year for “ineffective leadership and poor performance”. Stay tuned…