Twitter’s New Whistleblower Sounds The Alarm About The Firm’s Rising Security Issues

Twitter and its list of whistleblowers seem to be increasing as a new member has gone about signaling alarms regarding some major security concerns.

The whistleblower is the company’s former worker who sent out warnings about the platform’s rising security problems as per a recent report by the Washington Post. In his words, the complainant mentioned to Congress and the FTC how any engineer out there from Twitter has continued access to the firm’s internal program that used to be called GodMode.

This allows them to tweet from any type of account so as you can see, this mode is definitely a major threat. Today, the feature is known as the privileged mode and it makes sense because you can find it on the laptop of all engineers that wants or needs access to it.

All you need is a computer alongside a simple code change that enables you to shift from the likes of false to true.

Moreover, screengrabs taken of this particular code were a part of the complaint made in the month of October that was filed to the FTC. It showcased a clear warning to all those making attempts to utilize it, adding, ‘think before you do this’ printed across in huge bold font.

Clearly, it’s not the first time that we are hearing about Twitter getting scrutinized for such types of behavior. Back in the year 2020, scammers linked to teen crypto endeavors managed to hack the firm’s internal system. It did this by sending out some fake tweets through the accounts of top government officials.

Common examples included President Joe Biden, former president Barack Obama, Elon Musk, and a few more.

At that time, Twitter’s top executives claimed to have fixed the matter and even went about launching comprehensive details on a security program that is made to enhance security, integrity, confidentiality, and also users’ privacy.

But it so happened that the firm’s initial whistleblower went about disputing that news. Meanwhile, one more engineer stated during that period how the GodMode continued to be available on a wide basis.

The complainant’s new filing claims that such incidents have left the app with no choice but to revisit the case that has raised concern that engineers had exclusive power. They held the ability to get rid of or restore tweets belonging to all users. And it’s something that even a regular user didn’t have the power to do so. In the same way, the whistleblower adds how the company can’t keep a track of who it is that uses or even abuses the platform’s special privileges.

These complaints coming out in the eyes of the public by the firm’s new whistleblower is the same company that we saw representing the likes of the initial whistleblower, Zatko. It’s a bizarre yet striking coincidence. For now, the FTC is busy investigating and inquiring about former workers from Twitter regarding such allegations.