Twitter whistleblower reveals employee concerns about Chinese agent at company accessing data

According to a report from Reuters, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) used his opening remarks at a Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday to claim that there is evidence that a Chinese agent has infiltrated Twitter, posing a major security risk for the whole country.

Grassley's comments came before whistleblower Peiter “Mudge” Zatko provided testimony about complex security issues at the massive social media company.

According to the Reuters report, the Iowa Republican stated "at least one Chinese agent is working at the company," before stating, "His disclosures also note that the FBI notified Twitter of at least one Chinese agent in the company."

Zatko added later, "that some Twitter employees were concerned that the Chinese government would be able to collect data on the company's users."

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The cybersecurity expert told the panel, "They don’t know what data they have, where it lives and where it came from and so, unsurprisingly, they can’t protect it. It doesn’t matter who has keys if there are no locks.”

According to the Associated Press, "Zatko was the head of security for the influential platform until he was fired early this year. He filed a whistleblower complaint in July with Congress, the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Among his most serious accusations is that Twitter violated the terms of a 2011 FTC settlement by falsely claiming that it had put stronger measures in place to protect the security and privacy of its users."