Whistleblower Tells Senators It’s ‘Not Far-Fetched’ a Twitter Employee Could ‘Take Over’ Accounts of Every Lawmaker at Hearing

Twitter’s former chief security officer testified on Tuesday before U.S. lawmakers, accusing his former employer of “misleading the public, lawmakers, and even its own board of directors.”

“I’m here today because Twitter leadership is misleading the public, lawmakers, and even its own board of directors,” Peiter “Mudge” Zatko testified in his opening statement after lawmakers like Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) expressed concern over the state of security at Twitter.

According to Zatko, who worked for the company from 2020 to 2022, Twitter is a decade behind “industry security standards.” The former employee said he identified two major problems while at the company, both of which were presented to executives and ignored.

The first problem, Zatko testified, is a lack of tracking what exact data Twitter has.

“They don’t know what data they have, where it lives or where it came from, and so unsurprisingly, they can’t protect it,” he said.

This problem feeds a bigger concern, Zatko added.

“The employees then have to have too much access to too much data and too many systems,” he said.

Boiling the two issues down, Zatko simply stated about the alleged chaos at Twitter: “It doesn’t matter who has keys if you don’t have any locks on the doors.”

Zatko added that it’s “not far-fetched” that an employee for Twitter could take control of the accounts of every senator in the room.

“It’s not far-fetched to say an employee in the company could take over the accounts of all the senators in this room,” he said.

Zatko first made his explosive accusations in a complaint filed with the Department of Justice. On Tuesday, Zatko got emotional when discussing his decision to put himself “at risk” to become a whistleblower. Despite his concerns about Twitter, the former employee said he still believes in the company’s mission, though he said the platform will not be successful until it addresses its security issues.

“I continue to believe in the mission of the company and root for its success,” Zatko said.

Watch above via CSPAN.