DARPA hires Twitter whistleblower to serve as its CIO
Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, former head of security at Twitter, testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee September 13, 2022. Zatko will rejoin DARPA as it's CIO. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Peiter “Mudge” Zatko — the former security head of then-Twitter who alleged that the platform was overlooking critical security flaws — will be returning to DARPA after almost a decade away in the private sector.
A well-respected hacker who previously filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that then-Twitter was misleading the public about its security practices said on Tuesday that he is returning to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to serve as its chief information officer.
Peiter Zatko, known by his hacker nickname “Mudge,” last worked for the Pentagon’s research and development agency in 2014. It was in this role that he helped to launch DARPA’s Information Innovation Office, which conducts research into cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and data analytics.
Zatko announced his new role with the agency in an X post on Tuesday, saying “we all pulled off real magic the first time I was at DARPA” and adding “let’s see if we can make an even bigger dent in the universe this second time around!”
Since his initial departure from DARPA, Zatko has had several stints at leading technology firms — including with Motorola, Google and Stripe — before becoming Twitter’s head of security in 2020.
After he was let go by the social media giant in early 2022, he filed a sweeping whistleblower complaint with federal agencies later that year alleging that the company was overlooking critical security flaws and was susceptible to foreign influence. He subsequently testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2022 about his concerns.
Zatko first came to international attention in 1998 when he testified before Congress as part of the L0pht hacking collective about the internet’s susceptibility to hacking. Before returning to DARPA, Zatko joined the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency last September as a part-time senior technical adviser.
DARPA confirmed in an X post that it brought Zatko onboard to serve as its CIO, saying that “his track record of creativity in addressing critical cybersecurity and IT modernization challenges, as well as his experience as a former program manager, make him well-suited to our unique environment.”