As it continues to deal with security issues and misinformation, Twitter has hired Peiter Zatko, known as Mudge, as head of security.
Twitter has dealt with a number of embarrassing security breaches and issues over the last few years. In addition, the platform has struggled to deal with the type of misinformation that has plagued social media platforms.
To help address these challenges, the company has hired famed hacker Peiter Zatko to fill the new role of head of security. Zatko was one of the leaders of famous hacking group Cult of the Dead Cow. He also worked on some of Google’s special projects and served as a program manager at DARPA.
According to CNBC, Zatko will report to CEO Jack Dorsey and will examine “information security, site integrity, physical security, platform integrity — which starts to touch on abuse and manipulation of the platform — and engineering.”
Zatko confirmed the news in a Twitter (appropriately) post:
Looks like the cat is out of the bag.
— Mudge (@dotMudge) November 16, 2020
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! https://t.co/ZQkhYTXLQZ
While Twitter continues to face significant challenges moving forward, some experts are already praising Zatko’s hiring.
“I don’t know if anyone can fix Twitter’s security, but he’d be at the top of my list,” said Dan Kaufman, who supervised Zatko at DARPA, via CNBC.