Twitter staff can tweet from any ‘GodMode’ account because loopholes weren’t closed after Bitcoin scam was hacked, ex-engineer allegedly says

[ad_1]

Twitter staff can tweet from any account, says former employeeGetty Images

Twitter staff can tweet from any account, according to an FTC complaint seen by The Washington Post.

The ex-Twitter engineer behind the complaint said it was called “GodMode” and the company did not shut it down after a hack.

In 2020, hackers tweeted a Bitcoin scam from several high profile accounts after gaining access to internal systems.

Twitter staff can tweet from any account using a program formerly known as “GodMode”, according to a former employee who spoke to congressional staff and The Washington Post.

A complaint filed with the Federal Trade Commission by Whistleblower Aid last October prompted the federal agency to interview former Twitter employees, and a congressman shared the complaint with the newspaper.

This follows a Twitter security breach in July 2020 when teenage hackers broke into the company’s internal systems and tweeted from 45 high profile accounts. The intruders shared links to a Bitcoin wallet, promising to double users’ money, and up to $120,000 was transferred before Twitter deleted the fraudulent tweets. The first tweet was sent from Elon Musk’s account, while Apple, Barack Obama and Jeff Bezos were also compromised.

Three people were arrested about two weeks later, on charges of wire fraud and impersonation. At the time, Twitter said the issue had been resolved, but the whistleblower disputes this. According to The Post, the complaint states, “The existence of GodMode is yet another example that Twitter’s public statements to users and investors were false and/or misleading.”

The former Twitter engineer told the Post that the program’s name had been changed to “privileged mode” and that its original purpose was to allow Twitter staff to tweet on behalf of advertisers.

While executives said access to the powerful tool was cut off after the 2020 hack, any engineer just needs to change a line of code from ‘false’ to ‘true’, according to the complaint seen by The Post.

“They’ve written to the public and to regulators that they’ve filled in all the loopholes. That’s a lie,” the whistleblower told the Post.

The story continues

This latest report follows a complaint filed last July by former Twitter security chief Peiter Zatko, who is also represented by Whistleblower Aid. He joined the company shortly after the 2020 hack and said he discovered Twitter’s “extreme and glaring shortcomings in all areas of its mandate”.

Twitter did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider

[ad_2]