Indian government forced Twitter to hire its agents: Whistleblower Zatko
In startling revelations, a former Twitter security chief has accused the Indian government of forcing the social media giant to hire its agents, so they could have access to sensitive user data. In his 84-page complaint to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Pieter Zatko alleged that Twitter was using outdated software compromising user safety and its ability to fend off attackers.
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In February, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology ( MeitY ) had asked Twitter to take down some user content, which was termed by many as critical of the ruling dispensation, and warned of criminal action for failing to comply. Twitter challenged the order and filed a lawsuit in Karnataka High Court. After sending a notice to the respective users, Twitter had taken down the said tweets, IANS reported.
Zatko was fired this year citing poor performance
Zatko is a highly acclaimed hacker and is commonly known as Mudge. Twitter fired him earlier this year citing poor performance. Zatko's lawyers have sent the supporting evidence to the National Security Division of the US Justice Department and the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. A New York Republican representative, John Katko claimed half of Twitter's employees had deep access to controls.
Twitter 'knowingly permitted' unsupervised access to insiders
The complaint alleges that Twitter was aware that the Indian government had succeeded in placing its agents and "knowingly permitted" them unsupervised access. It claims that Twitter had falsified its transparency reports and lied to regulators about security checks and balances. It further says that the architectural structure of Twitter was very weak and it was bound to fail against cyber attacks.
Former Twitter manager convicted for spying for Saudi Arabia
Earlier this month, a court in the US sentenced a former Twitter manager who was accused of spying for Saudi Arabia. The charges against him included acting as a Saudi Arabian agent and attempting to conceal a payment from an official connected to the Saudi royal family. Recently, journalist Mohammed Zubair and filmmaker Avinash Das had been arrested based on their tweets.
