Twitter allowed government agents access to user data, says whistleblower

Former employee Zatko says the social media platform gave unsupervised access to the company’s systems and user data

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A whistleblower has accused Twitter of substandard treatment of user data and lax IT security in a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission and the Dept of Justice. Former head of security Peiter ‘Mudge’ Zatko alleged that governments forced the social media company to give agents access to had access to huge amounts of user data.

Zatko made the comments during a whistleblower disclosure with US regulators, alleged that Twitter knowingly permitted agents from India and Saudi Arabia direct unsupervised access to the company’s systems and user data.

It isn’t clear whether there’s a link between the whistleblower’s allegations of government agents being hired and the new rules requiring the platforms to hire employees for the new roles. However, Zatko told The Washington Post that the evidence to support his allegations has been shared with US intelligence agencies.

Zatko added that in countries where Twitter had to have a physical presence and employees, the threat of harm to Twitter employees was enough to cause it to seriously consider complying with foreign government requests it would otherwise fundamentally oppose. He said that the government of India, along with Russia and Nigeria, aimed to force Twitter to hire local employees that could be used as leverage.

Zatko was fired from his role for ineffective leadership and poor performance, a Twitter spokesperson said.

“What we’ve seen so far is a false narrative about Twitter and our privacy and data security practices that is riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lacks important context,” said the spokesperson. “Mr Zatko’s allegations and opportunistic timing appear designed to capture attention and inflict harm on Twitter, its customers and its shareholders. Security and privacy have long been company-wide priorities at Twitter and will continue to be.”

Under the terms of an agreement reached in 2011 Twitter had to provide the FTC with an annually updated privacy roadmap. Zatko has accused Twitter of

IT Pro and TechCentral Reporters

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