The Twitter executive who unveiled several security problems with Twitter’s practices will testify before Congress next month.
Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, Twitter’s former head of security, will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 13 for an examination of his claims regarding the company’s security practices and its alleged deception of the board of directors.
“Mr. Zatko’s allegations of widespread security failures and foreign state actor interference at Twitter raise serious concerns,” Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) said in a statement on Wednesday. “If these claims are accurate, they may show dangerous data privacy and security risks for Twitter users around the world.”
TWITTER IN TROUBLE WITH CONGRESS AFTER WHISTLEBLOWER REVEAL OF SECURITY FLAWS
Grassley and Durbin are not the only members of Congress who have expressed concerns about the security allegations. Reps. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) also noted that if the allegations are proven true, they “affirm” the need to pass legislation to establish a national privacy framework.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is also working to establish a hearing with Zatko.
Twitter has challenged Zatko’s claims, saying he was out to harm the social media giant. “Mr. Zatko was fired from Twitter more than six months ago for poor performance and leadership, and he now appears to be opportunistically seeking to inflict harm on Twitter, its customers, and its shareholders,” Rebecca Hahn, the company’s global vice president of communications, said in a statement.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said during a Wednesday staff meeting that Zatko’s remarks are “foundationally, technically and historically inaccurate,” according to Reuters.
Zatko alleged in his whistleblower complaint that Twitter had “extreme, egregious deficiencies” in its security practices and failed to take sufficient measures to protect its users. This included allegations that the company had failed to provide updated software to its servers and that the executives overseeing security had withheld relevant information from Twitter’s board of directors. Zatko also claimed that the Indian government ordered Twitter to employ an agent of the government within its offices.
