Peiter Zatko, the former Head of Security at Twitter, has filed an 84-page whistleblower complaint to US Congress alleging that the social media company operates under lax and insufficient cybersecurity practices. The disclosures by Zatko claim the platform has issues with user data access and oversight by its approximately 10,000 staff and that data servers are running non-compliant operating systems and kernels. There is even a claim that the Indian government forced Twitter to hire specific individuals who were believed to be government agents. A Twitter spokesperson responded to the allegations, saying privacy and security matters "have long been company-wide priorities." An internal memo posted in response by Parag Agrawal, the current CEO of Twitter, claims Zatko was fired for ineffective leadership and poor performance.
UPDATE: 250822 - Tech Crunch reports that the whistleblower allegations against Twitter's lax cybersecurity practices have begun drawing scrutiny, with data protection authorities (DPAs) in France and Ireland confirming investigations have begun. The Irish Data Protection Commission's Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said the DPC is "engaging" with Twitter over the data protection issues raised in the complaint, while a spokesperson for France's DPA, the CNIL, said it "could carry out checks that could lead to an order to comply or a sanction if breaches are found."
UPDATE: 260822 - The Irish Times reports Peiter Zatko is willing to meet data commissioner Helen Dixon and answer questions about his allegations.
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