Twitter is a mess — but in the Elon Musk trial, it might not matter - The Verge

A leaked report from Peiter "Mudge" Zatko strengthens Elon Musk’s case against Twitter, but the hurdle for breaking the deal remains high.

In a fight between rich tech guys who like to move fast and break things, there isn’t always a “good” side. This was underscored on Tuesday when Twitter’s former security head Peiter “Mudge” Zatko accused the company of hiding a wealth of risky behavior — and, in the process, put himself in the middle of Twitter’s legal battle with Elon Musk. The report isn’t great for Twitter, but you’re probably already asking the obvious question: is it bad for Twitter in the courtroom?

The best answer I’ve found is: probably, yes. But on Twitter’s fancy leaked threat matrix scale, the company’s odds are more “impaired” than “physically destroyed”... with a healthy dose of “known unknown we really should know.”

The Twitter threat matrix.

We (and others) have described Musk’s case as very weak but with the caveat that Musk could have some kind of unrevealed, damning evidence. Now, he’s got a more clearly dangerous weapon. Zatko isn’t some crank — he’s a widely respected white hat hacker. And while Twitter called the report “a false narrative that is riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies,” most of Mudge’s claims seem entirely plausible.

Zatko filed a report in July with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Department of Justice. Congress was given a redacted version, which then leaked to The Washington Post and CNN. My colleague James Vincent lays out what we know here, but the gist is that Twitter is a security nightmare (a credible claim for a platform whose defenses were demolished by teens in 2020), and former CEO Jack Dorsey’s leadership was a mess (which we could guess, because, well… I’ll let Liz Lopatto explain). You can read the redacted report online, including some of those pithy not-for-public-consumption quotes that Twitter executives are known for; CEO Parag Agrawal’s alleged note that “Twitter has 10 years of unpaid security bills” isn’t quite as concise as Dick Costolo’s “we suck at dealing with abuse” memo, but it’s pretty good.

This Week in Elon

https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/25/23321477/elon-musk-twitter-mudge-zatko-leaks-court-effects

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