[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text dp_text_size=”size-4″]According to a legal filing with the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, portions of Twitter’s source code have been leaked online.
The contents of Twitter’s source code — the all-important software that powers the platform and makes it work — were discovered on GitHub, an internet hosting service for software development, as first reported by the New York Times.
When Twitter discovered that its source code was on GitHub on Friday, it issued a copyright infringement notice demanding that the code be removed immediately.
GitHub complied with the removal request, but according to the Times, the code had been exposed on the site for “at least several months.”
Twitter is also attempting to persuade the court to order GitHub to reveal the identity of the source code leaker, as well as the names of anyone who may have downloaded it.
Read More: US, Japan reach deal on critical EV battery minerals
The fear is that the code will expose platform vulnerabilities, making it easier for hackers to exploit those flaws for malicious purposes. The site could be taken offline, or the user’s data could be stolen and sold.
According to the Times, Twitter executives believe that whoever leaked the code likely left the company last year as part of sweeping cuts made by the platform’s new owner, Elon Musk, who purchased the platform in October 2022 for $44 billion.
Given Twitter’s recent turmoil, the incident suggests a disgruntled former employee may have been involved in the potentially damaging transgression.
Because of its importance, source code is a popular target for hackers. Despite companies’ best efforts to protect it, there have been numerous incidents in which perpetrators have obtained the valuable code. In the last year or so, hackers have taken source code from Microsoft, Samsung, and LastPass, to name a few.
In the case of Twitter, however, portions of its source code were simply uploaded to the web, making it accessible to anyone.
Twitter and its more than 230 million daily active users around the world will now be watching and waiting to see if the incident causes any major problems for the social media platform.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
