Twitter hires renowned hacker as head of security
Twitter hires renowned hacker as head of security - SiliconANGLE

					
	                    Twitter hires renowned hacker as head of security					
	                
	                	                    
	                
	                              
	            
						Twitter Inc. confirmed today that its new head of security will be the well-known hacker Peiter Zatko, aka “Mudge.”
According to Reuters, which first reported the hire, Zatko has been asked to deal with the spread of misinformation on the platform as well as protect Twitter from security breaches. He will report directly to Chief Executive Jack Dorsey. After a 45- to 60-day review, Zatko is expected to take the helm as security boss.
In 1998, as a member of the hacking group L0pht, Zatco testified to Congress on matters relating to cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the U.S. government. Later he became a program manager at DARPA working on cybersecurity research and in 2013 he worked for Google LLC in its Advanced Technology & Projects division. He’s also one of the leaders in the hacking group Cult of the Dead Cow.
“Looks like the cat is out of the bag,” Zatko tweeted today. “I’m very excited to be joining the executive team at Twitter! I truly believe in the mission of (equitably) serving the public conversation. I will do my best!”
Earlier in an interview with Reuters, he said his main tasks at Twitter will be to look at “information security, site integrity, physical security, platform integrity, which starts to touch on abuse and manipulation of the platform, and engineering.”
He may have his work cut out. Earlier this year, Twitter fell victim to one of the biggest security breaches of all time. Many of the victims of the hack were household names, including Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Kim Kardashian West, Mike Bloomberg and Kanye West.
This year Twitter, along with other social media companies, has come under attack for allowing some content to stay on the platform and not taking down other content. The pressure has been so much that some politicians have asked that Section 230, which provides immunity for website publishers from third-party content, be repealed.
Image: Esther Vargas/Flickr

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