Twitter has named famed hacker Peiter Zatko, aka ‘Mudge,’ as its new head of security.
Just a few months after the 2020 Bitcoin Scam that led to a number of high-profile accounts being compromised, Twitter has announced a new head of security to take care of things.
It is now confirmed that Peiter Zatko, one of the world’s most well-regarded hackers, will be taking over after a 45- to 60-day review of Twitter’s current measures and practices. Zatko – also known as “Mudge” – will be reporting directly to CEO Jack Dorsey.
Related | Can You Guess Trump’s Twitter Password? This Hacker Did
“Looks like the cat is out of the bag,” he tweeted after the news broke. “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!”
Looks like the cat is out of the bag.
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
— Mudge (@dotMudge) November 16, 2020
Mudge certainly has the credentials to take on this role, which will undoubtedly be challenging. He’s worked at DARPA and Google and has priors at hacker collectives L0pht and Cult of the Dead Cow. More recently, he was head of security at Stripe.
As part of his new role, Mudge says he will study Twitter’s “information security, site integrity, physical security, platform integrity — which starts to touch on abuse and manipulation of the platform — and engineering.” Furthermore, he will be involved in improving public conversations on Twitter and implementing unconventional security approaches. He is certainly the right man for the job as he’s known for coming up with creative solutions to problems.
Twitter went on the hunt for a head of security after a data breach in July, leading to the accounts of Joe Biden, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk getting hacked.
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