🐦 Twitter’s whistleblower woes

Flying the coop… Twitter’s in the spotlight (again) after a newly released whistleblower report alleged that the company’s security policies aren't… secure. Last month, its former security chief Peiter Zatko filed a 200-page report accusing the blue bird of everything from reckless cybersecurity negligence to underreporting spam-bot accounts. Zatko had joined Twitter in 2020 to help build its security division but was let go in January for “poor performance.”

• Zatko says: More than half of Twitter’s 500K servers are using out-of-date software, and over a quarter of staff computers have disabled important security updates.
• Twitter says: The report paints a “false narrative” of the company, and security and privacy issues have “long been company-wide priorities.”
• The report comes at a convenient time for Elon Musk, who recently subpoenaed Twitter’s founder and former CEO for docs that might support his attempt to back out of buying the company.
• Twitter shares fell 7% yesterday after the news, ending the Musk-related rebound.

Twitter’s security snafus… are piling up. In 2020 it suffered a major celeb hack that compromised blue-check accounts from President Biden and Kim K to Uber and Apple. Despite ramping up security, the company had another hack last month that exposed the data of 5M+ users.

Nuclear options... As the world grows hungrier for electricity, interest in nuclear-power innovation has exploded: over the past year, venture-capital investors have poured $3.4B into nuclear fusion and fission startups. Refresher:

• Fossil fuels were the US’s main sources of electricity generation last year. Natural gas provided 38% of its electricity, while coal made up 22%.
• But nuclear isn't far behind... Nuclear energy powered nearly 20% of America’s electricity (the same as renewables like hydroelectric and wind).
• Fission: All nuclear power plants currently produce electricity from nuclear fission (think: splitting atoms), but it's considered nonrenewable because it requires uranium.
• Fusion is much harder to produce but generates significantly more power than fission and produces zero greenhouse-gas emissions (#renewable).

A distant dream?... No one has yet developed a commercially viable fusion power plant. The process is hard to create and control — and it's extra-pricey. Now, nuclear-tech companies are raising big rounds to innovate:

• Bill Gates’ TerraPower raised $750M last week in its quest to fight the climate crisis with “carbon-free advanced nuclear energy” and treat cancer with nuclear isotopes.
• Commonwealth Fusion Systems has raised nearly $2B over the past year to further its ambitious goal of building a compact fusion power plant.
• General Fusion said this month that it’s cracked the code to building the world’s first commercially viable fusion plant, and is planning a demonstration facility in the UK.
• Helion Energy, which aims to build the first fusion generators and enable “a future with unlimited clean electricity” has raised nearly $600M in the past year.

• Pigskin: Just in time for the kickoff of NFL season (in two weeks): Amazon Prime sealed a deal with DirecTV to broadcast “Thursday Night Football” games in 300K+ US bars and restaurants. The Zon has exclusive rights for 11 seasons.
• Spendy: The chips are down: Intel signed a $30B funding deal with Brookfield Asset Management to finance the construction of new US chip factories. The companies plan to share revenue from the plants.
• Discount: Shoppers aren’t splurging like they used to: Macy’s lowered its full-year forecast despite strong sales, fearing consumers will spend less on discretionary products like fleece pajamas.
• Zucked: If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then BeReal must be blushing. Instagram is testing a feature called “IG Candid Challenges” that mimics BeReal’s no-filter “come as you are” selfie format.
• Birdie: Dick’s Sporting Goods is teeing off on its rivals: the sports superstore raised its annual profit forecast after second-quarter earnings topped estimates thanks to strong golf and footwear sales.

• Earnings expected from NVIDIA, Salesforce, Williams-Sonoma, and Petco

Authors of this Snacks own: bitcoin and shares of Twitter, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, and Uber

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