Twitter Whistleblower To Testify Before Senate Panel

Twitter continues to deal with the fallout from the explosive claims made against it by whistleblower and former head of security Peiter Zatko.

According to CNN, Zatko will testify in a Senate hearing next month, the same day that Twitter (TWTR) shareholders are set to vote on whether to approve Elon Musk’s takeover deal.

Zatko will testify on 13 September before the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to a release from the committee Wednesday. He will discuss his allegations about Twitter.

Senate hearing

“Mr. Zatko’s allegations of widespread security failures and foreign state actor interference at Twitter raise serious concerns,” said Sens. Dick Durbin and Chuck Grassley, the committee’s chair and ranking Republican, respectively. If these claims are accurate, they may show dangerous data privacy and security risks for Twitter users around the world.”

Twitter has pushed back on the allegations in the disclosure and said Zatko was fired in January for “ineffective leadership and poor performance.”

Zatko maintains he was fired in retaliation for concerns he was raising regarding security vulnerabilities.

“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,” a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday in response to the disclosure.

“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,” the Twitter spokesperson said.

Zatko allegations

Zatko made a series of stunning claims this week, including that security flaws at Twitter are so bad they are a threat to people’s personal data, and even democracy and American national security.

He alleged that nearly half of Twitter’s employees have access to some of the platform’s main critical controls. Zatko said this was like being on an aeroplane, where nearly every passenger and flight attendant has access to the cockpit and flight controls.

Zatko also alleged some of the company’s senior-most executives have been trying to cover up Twitter’s serious vulnerabilities, and he claims that one or more current employees may be working for a foreign intelligence service.

Zatko alleged that the Indian government forced the social media platform to put a government agent on the payroll.

He alleged the government agent would have had access to sensitive user data due to Twitter’s weak security infrastructure, Zatko alleged in his filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

A company source told Reuters that the allegations about the India government had surfaced previously within Twitter, without elaborating further.

Indian battle

Twitter has been engaged in a legal challenge against the Indian government for nearly two years, and in July it asked a local court to overturn some government orders to remove content from the social media platform, and alleged abuse of power by officials.

Such is the level of animosity between the two, that last year the Indian government removed Twitter’s liability protection against user-generated content in India, because it alleged the platform failed to comply with its new IT rules,

The next hearing in the India case is set for Thursday, Reuters reported.

Earlier this month, a US court convicted a former Twitter manager (Ahmad Abouammo, a dual US-Lebanese citizen) accused of spying for Saudi Arabia on six criminal counts.

He was convicted of acting as an agent for the country and trying to disguise a payment from an official tied to Saudi’s royal family.