We introduced you to Peiter “Mudge” Zatko in a previous article. Today we want to tell you some facts you probably don’t know about this man and his relationship with Parag Agrawal, CEO of Twitter.
As a reminder, this IT expert agreed to have his identity made public, he was previously the company’s chief security officer and reported directly to the CEO.
Twitter (TWTR) claims Mr Zatko’s poor performance was behind his dismissal in January this year. Zatko says his public exposure comes after he tried to report the security flaws to Twitter’s board and help the board fix years of technical deficiencies and alleged breaches of compliance. a prior confidentiality agreement with the Federal Trade Commission.
He also tried to help Twitter fix years of technical shortcomings and alleged breaches of a previous confidentiality agreement with the Federal Trade Commission. Zatko is represented by Whistleblower Aid, the same organization that supports Frances Haugen, a Facebook whistleblower.
- Some of the most damning accusations made by Zatko stem from his allegedly conflicted relationship with Parag Agrawal, who was the company’s former chief technology officer and was promoted to CEO after Jack Dorsey resigned in November. ‘last year.
According to the report, Agrawal and his lieutenants frequently discouraged Zatko from presenting the company’s board with a detailed account of Twitter’s security issues. They sought to prevent Zatko from disclosing sensitive information.
- Mr. Zatko believes he was fired as a sort of punishment for raising public awareness of the security issues that existed within the organization.
- As a result of the whistleblowing activities he has conducted, Mr. Zatko may be able to receive monetary compensation from the United States government. Whistleblowers who provide “original, timely, and credible information that leads to successful enforcement action” by the SEC may be eligible for a reduction of up to 30% of the agency’s fines related to the action if the penalties amount to more than a million dollars, according to statements made by the SEC. The SEC has paid over $1 billion to more than 300 whistleblowers since 2012.
- According to the report the whistleblower leaked, the US government presented Twitter-specific evidence shortly before Zatko was fired indicating that at least one, and possibly more, Twitter employees worked for the service. intelligence from another nation. The report does not say whether Twitter was already aware of the issue or whether it acted on the information once it came to its attention.