Former Twitter Executive Blows Whistle On Major Security Problems

A former Twitter executive disclosed the social media giant's alleged major security problems to Congress and federal agencies last month.

The disclosure, which was obtained exclusively by CNN and the Washington Post, details the social media company's "reckless environment at a mismanaged company that allows too many of its staff access to the platform's central controls and most sensitive information without adequate oversight," according to CNN.

Additionally, the disclosure claims that some of the company's higher-ups have tried covering up Twitter's serious vulnerabilities, while "one or more current employees may be working for a foreign intelligence service."

Peiter 'Mudge' Zatko, who had previously worked as Twitter's head of security and reported directly to the company's CEO, agreed to be publicly identified as the whistleblower responsible for the disclosure and claims that Twitter even misled its own board members and government regulators about the security issues, which includes users being prone to "foreign spying or manipulation, hacking and disinformation campaigns," according to CNN.

Zatko also claimed that Twitter doesn't "reliably delete users' data" after cancelling the users' accounts, which has happened in some instances because the company lost track of the information and went on to mislead regulators about whether "it deletes the data as it is required to do."

Zatko also said Twitter executives are unaware of the true number of bots present on the social media platform and were not motivated to find the information.

Zatko, who was fired by Twitter in January for what the company cited as poor performance, claims his decision to act as a public whistleblower came after he attempted to flag security lapses to the company's board and make efforts to help fix the social media giant of its technical shortcomings and alleged non-compliance with a previous privacy agreement with the Federal Trade Commission.

The former head of security is being represented by Whistleblower Aid, which also represented Frances Haugen in her disclosure against Facebook last year.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who pulled out of his planned $44 billion purchase of Twitter in July, had previously accused the company of providing false information regarding its spam bot accounts and recently subpoenaed former CEO Jack Dorsey as part of his ongoing lawsuit claiming the company attempted to force him to move forward with the deal.

Musk hasn't publicly addressed the report of the disclosure as of Tuesday (August 23) morning.