Twitter, the popular social network, is facing major intellectual property exposure as parts of its source code were leaked online. The company has moved to have the leaked code taken down and is now seeking to identify the person who shared it and any others who downloaded it.
Executives handling the matter believe that whoever was responsible left the company last year.
The leaked source code is a rare and major exposure of the intellectual property, particularly for technology companies who often view it as a closely held secret.
The code includes security vulnerabilities that could give hackers or other motivated parties the means to extract user data or take down the site.
This news comes as Twitter is already facing mounting structural and financial challenges. Since being bought by Elon Musk for $44 billion in October, about 75 percent of the company’s 7,500 employees have been laid off or resigned.
Musk has been trying to turn around the social network by slashing costs, trying out new features, and welcoming back previously banned users. However, outages of the service have increased, while advertisers – the main source of revenue for the company – have been hesitant to run ads on the site.
The leak of Twitter’s source code adds to the challenges facing Musk’s Twitter. Competitors could use the code to gain an unfair advantage, while Twitter’s security vulnerabilities could be exploited by hackers.
The public posting of the code could also speed up the process of finding and exploiting vulnerabilities, according to cybersecurity experts.
For Twitter, the leak is concerning, but it also comes at a time when Musk has promised to make some of Twitter’s code public. The billionaire has said that he will make the code that Twitter uses to recommend tweets publicly available by the end of March.
This move could help to improve the security of Twitter’s code, as people identify and report any potential issues with it.
However, Musk has also worried about the possibility of leaks and theft by disgruntled former employees during his mass layoffs. In November, he locked Twitter’s offices and asked employees not to come in while cuts were being made.
Over the last few months, Twitter has also prevented engineers from making changes to the site’s code ahead of layoffs for fear that someone would sabotage the platform on the way out the door.
In conclusion, Twitter’s source code leak is a major concern for the company as it tries to navigate financial and structural challenges. The leak has raised concerns about security and competitors gaining an unfair advantage. However, Musk’s promise to make some of the code public could help to improve its security in the long run.
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