This week’s big news was the Twitter Whistleblower. Here are my unsolicited thoughts on the main questions…
1. Is this a big deal?
Yes. Although whistleblowers usually have their own motives, this is Twitter’s former Head of Security saying Twitter’s security is terrible and the executives/board refuse to act. Plus, I haven’t seen Twitter deny any of his specific claims.
2. Isn’t this really about Musk & Twitter?
Musk is clearly involved. Musk has no problem being ruthless, and tens of billions of dollars are at stake in the Twitter acquisition dispute. I doubt this will be an isolated incident, and I expect both sides to be damaged.
3. Will anything change at Twitter?
Twitter will likely be forced to perform an internal or 3rd party investigation into the claims. In 6 months, they may implement some fairly routine security policy changes, but a complete overhaul is unlikely. This may significantly influence the acquisition dispute, but that will also muddy the waters. We shouldn’t expect to learn the truth about Twitter’s security.