Twitter snaps up security specialist
Social site Twitter has acquired a small mobile security firm specialising in secure tools for Android. The purchase seems a strange fit but it has been suggested that the talent that comes with the company is what Twitter is really after.
Whisper Systems was founded by a highly regarded security expert known as Moxie Marlinspike. The company became somewhat famous during the Arab Spring, when Whisper released an encrypted voce communications system called RedPhone specifically to aid those involved in the Egyptian revolution. Marlinspike understood that tool actually had global implications.
Much to the disappointment of protestors worldwide, post acquisition, Whisper’s tools have all been taken offline, during a “transition period”.
Twitter is expected to use Marlinspike’s expertise in the SSL arena to help it secure its own services and implement SSL effectively to ward off the occasional security and privacy scares Twitter is responsible for.
