Twitter Whistleblower To Tell Congress Of Company’s Alleged Failings

Peiter ‘Mudge’ Zatko, a former hacker, was head of security and says he witnessed ‘egregious deficiencies’ by the company

A Twitter whistleblower who accused the company of “egregious” security deficiencies began his testimony in front of Congress on Tuesday, expanding on allegations of corporate failings he filed to federal agencies in August.

Former hacker Peiter “Mudge” Zatko worked as head of security at Twitter from 2020 until he was fired in 2022, and says in that time he witnessed “extreme, egregious deficiencies by Twitter in every area of his mandate”.

His complaint included allegations Twitter runs out-of-date and vulnerable software on more than half of its data center servers and that in “multiple episodes” the platform was breached by foreign intelligence agencies.

The allegations were filed to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Justice, and Federal Trade Commission in August, sparking a hearing from the Senate Judiciary Committee.