Jimmy Patronis to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey: ‘Your security gaps have become our problem’

Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis penned a letter  to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Thursday, expressing his intent to learn more about the platforms recent high-profile security breach.

“Twitter is an extremely powerful tool that governments, industries, members of the media and billions of other people rely on for communicating important information,” Patronis wrote. “For better or worse, it’s hard to imagine a world without Twitter and because of how you have managed to weave this product into the fabric of day-to-day life, we’ve found ourselves in a situation where your security gaps have become our problem. “

The letter comes three days after Patronis called for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to begin an investigation into the incident.

Patronis cited the state’s need to understand potential economic threats as his motive for the request.

“This coordinated attack threatens the underpinnings of how the State of Florida shares important information about elections, disasters and other emergencies, and consumer services,” Patronis wrote Monday in his request to FDLE Commissioner Rick Swearingen. “One tweet could cause conflicts or send our state’s economy into a tailspin.”

In his letter to Dorsey, Patronis asked the 43-year-old CEO to brief FDLE on any information unearthed by the FBI’s pledged investigation into the attack.

In particular, Patronis asked if the attack was orchestrated in Florida, whether any Floridians or Florida businesses were impacted and what, if any, compensation to Floridians who fell victim to the scam.

Patronis also asked if any additional safe features will be added to government accounts.

“The full faith and credibility of federal, state, and local governments could be undermined should hackers begin targeting government accounts to foster confusion and chaos,” Patronis explained.

On June 15, hackers gained access to the Twitter accounts of several high-profile individuals and companies including Apple, former President Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Kanye West and Michael Bloomberg, all of whom posted similar Tweets that encouraged users to send them bitcoin for a larger return.

According to CNBC, the hackers are believed to have swindled roughly 510 payments from the bitcoin scam for a total of $120,000.

“As Twitter called this failure “embarrassing,” now is your opportunity to ensure more harm doesn’t come to our country or the citizens of Florida,” Patronis concluded.

The full letter can be read online.