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Ex-Twitter exec blows the whistle, alleging reckless cybersecurity policies

cnn.com

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Re: Ex-Twitter exec blows the whistle, alleging reckless cybersecurity policies

#21

Post by paulgb »

core-utility wrote: post #14
bkq wrote: post #2

It is rather disconcerting how a platform that is apparently rather integral to the discourse of today is in the hands of a single private company. It doesn't matter who owns it, if it's Musk or someone else, the fact that it's at the whims of a private company, is the primary channel for discourse, and is something legislatures cannot even comprehend because of their age, should have alarm bells going off. Coupled w…

> the primary channel for discourse Primary for whom? If you polled 50 people on the streets of NYC, I bet fewer than 3 would say they actively use twitter. Now do the same for Des Moines, IA and you maybe get 1?

The people who those people watch on TV (or read in newspapers) use twitter, though.

Re: Ex-Twitter exec blows the whistle, alleging reckless cybersecurity policies

#22

Post by ageitgey »

core-utility wrote: post #14
bkq wrote: post #2

It is rather disconcerting how a platform that is apparently rather integral to the discourse of today is in the hands of a single private company. It doesn't matter who owns it, if it's Musk or someone else, the fact that it's at the whims of a private company, is the primary channel for discourse, and is something legislatures cannot even comprehend because of their age, should have alarm bells going off. Coupled w…

> the primary channel for discourse Primary for whom? If you polled 50 people on the streets of NYC, I bet fewer than 3 would say they actively use twitter. Now do the same for Des Moines, IA and you maybe get 1?

I think that Twitter is very much the tail that wags the dog. Sure, 1 out of 50 normal people may use it, but nearly 1 out of 1 reporters use it. Those reporters often quote opinions on it as if they are representative of the larger public, even if the tweet they quote is by someone with 10 followers and no stars.

Re: Ex-Twitter exec blows the whistle, alleging reckless cybersecurity policies

#23

Post by chalst »

boffinAudio wrote: post #15
mupuff1234 wrote: post #11

Quoted post unavailable.

The article states he has had no contact with Musk and that the whistleblowing started before Musk attempted his takeover of Twitter ..

It's tinfoil hat territory, but the connection could run the other way in principle: the ex-exec could have been shopping for someone to injure Twitter and cooked up a plot in which Twitter was an innocent victim and Musk a double-crossed coconspirator.

Why, it explains Musk's confidence that Twitter was up to something with its fake-account stats... It must be true!

Re: Ex-Twitter exec blows the whistle, alleging reckless cybersecurity policies

#26

Post by nudpiedo »

Hamuko wrote: post #7

How long before Musk weaponises this in his lawsuit against Twitter?

I think it is time to go a bit Meta here, bit I start to subspect that many HN posts are to influence such things, including popular replies to @pmarca etc... when one says Netflix falls because it is not a tech company, the next day at HN comes an article saying how cool and techie it is, etc.

The reach of HN on the tech world is highly influential, and for sure it is weaponized in "communication wars" across actors with different interests.

EDIT: that doesn't mean that the given information is necessarily false, it is just presented at the right time, to promote one view of the world. Also when Twitter hit bottom some years ago several HN submissions remind us how they declined being purchased by Facebook etc, and social network giants have a large track of understanding how such information flows and influences people.

Re: Ex-Twitter exec blows the whistle, alleging reckless cybersecurity policies

#27

Post by Tainnor »

It's important not to forget that certain Twitter users share incredibly sensitive data over Twitter, increasingly including nudity and sexual acts (sometimes on private profiles or in DMs, so they're not meant to be public).

While one may (not wrongly) think that this is a bad idea in general (unless you subscribe to post-privacy), I think it is our duty as a society to protect those who don't have a full grasp on the implications of bad IT security.

In my opinion, fines for cyber security violations should be swift and harsh (GDPR goes in the right direction in terms of how high the fines are, but it is barely enforced). From my POV that is the only thing that will force companies to actually invest in cybersecurity. Maybe there should even be a law mandating security reviews if you handle any PII.

Re: Ex-Twitter exec blows the whistle, alleging reckless cybersecurity policies

#28

Post by boomboomsubban »

>one or more current employees may be working for a foreign intelligence service.

I don't doubt this, but the source is someone with fairly deep ties to the US intelligence services. Why should he be allowed a job and not people with ties to foreign agencies?

Re: Ex-Twitter exec blows the whistle, alleging reckless cybersecurity policies

#29

Post by rightbyte »

Signez wrote: post #3

This excerpt is frightening: > About half of the company's 500,000 servers run on outdated software that does not support basic security features such as encryption for stored data or regular security updates by vendors

It is also frightening that they need half a million servers.

Re: Ex-Twitter exec blows the whistle, alleging reckless cybersecurity policies

#30

Post by throwaway0asd »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #28

>one or more current employees may be working for a foreign intelligence service. I don't doubt this, but the source is someone with fairly deep ties to the US intelligence services. Why should he be allowed a job and not people with ties to foreign agencies?

Conflict of interest violations. Such violations are absolved through disclosure of known relationships, which cannot occur if persons are keeping ties to foreign intelligence services secret.
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