Twitter Code Leak Raises Security Concerns for African Tech Entrepreneurs

Twitter is looking for someone who leaked some of its source code and put it on GitHub, which Microsoft owns.The New York Times says the code had been online for months until Twitter took steps on Friday to remove it. Executives into the situation claim that the leak may have been caused by a former employee who left the firm in San Francisco last year.

Twitter has also asked GitHub, which took down the code on the same day, to find the person who leaked it and any others who may have downloaded it.

The individual who leaked the code still has a GitHub account with the pseudonym “FreeSpeechEnthusiast.” This seems to be a clear reference to Elon Musk, who calls himself a “free speech abolitionist.” The anonymous user only appears to have posted Twitter’s source code.

Executives in charge of the investigation think that one of the 7,500 people who quit or were fired since October, when Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion, leaked the information. Musk did a series of big layoffs, and to prevent sabotage, he did things like lock the offices and limit engineers’ access to the website code.

What this means for Africans

For African businesses and organizations, it is also essential to consider the possibility that a disgruntled former worker caused the leak. This is because the former employee may have been out for revenge.

 Theft of company property by employees, such as Twitter’s source code, is uncommon and can be detrimental to the expansion and development of businesses in Africa. Twitter is not alone in this problem. 

The compromised source code contains security flaws that might allow cybercriminals to steal data or possibly bring down Twitter entirely. Not only does the breach present a cybersecurity risk to Twitter as a company, but it also does so to the millions of African users who rely on the network for communication, news, and commercial purposes. 

This story can serve as a reminder to African companies of how important it is to keep up with cybersecurity protocols and keep their proprietary information protected from both internal and external dangers. Even more so now, several African digital businesses are firing workers to “simplify business operations” or shutting down completely.

The news of this leak comes just a few days after Elon Musk said that Twitter would make the code it uses to suggest tweets public on March 31. Musk anticipated that if anyone could look at the code, faults could be found and fixed to make the platform better.

Emails to Twitter asking for their thoughts on the subject have been answered with a feces emoji.