Edited By: Shaurya Sharma
Last Updated: January 06, 2023, 09:38 IST
While some users are worried about their security, some dismissed the leak as nonsense. (Image: Reuters)
Hackers obtained and shared the email addresses of over 200 million Twitter users, potentially leading to an increase in cyber attacks. CEO Elon Musk has not yet addressed the issue, and Twitter users are expressing their concerns.
The email addresses of more than 200 million Twitter users were obtained by hackers and uploaded on a hacking site, according to a security researcher’s report on Wednesday.
This is a concerning development for users whose personal information has been exposed, as they may now be at greater risk of being targeted by cybercriminals.
Describing it as “one of the most significant leaks” he has seen, Alon Gal, Hudson Rock’s co-founder, claims that this will lead to a surge in cyber attacks such as hacking, phishing, and doxxing.
Twitter database leaks for free with 235,000,000 records.The database contains 235,000,000 unique records of Twitter users and their email addresses and will unfortunately lead to a lot of hacking, targeted phishing, and doxxing.
This is one of the most significant leaks ever. pic.twitter.com/kxRY605qMZ
— Hudson Rock (@RockHudsonRock) January 4, 2023
Several users took to Twitter to present their take on the matter at hand. A Twitter user pointed out, “Why would they drop this for free? Couldn’t they sell it off to people easily enough? Or would that be too traceable? Or is this data just not worth much money?”
Another user expressed concern and wanted to know “how do I check if my account has been listed in this leak? Without downloading the leaked files?”
A News18 staffer checked their own email address on “Have I Been Pwned,” a website that helps individuals determine if their personal information has been compromised in a data breach. The website showed that the employee’s Twitter data had been compromised in a leak that occurred in “early 2023.”
But the data was “obtained sometime in 2021 by abusing an API that enabled email addresses to be resolved to Twitter profiles. The subsequent results were then composed into a corpus of data containing email addresses alongside public Twitter profile information including names, usernames and follower counts.”
Troy Hunt, the creator of ‘Have I Been Pwned,’ examined the leaked data and confirmed on Twitter that it appeared to be as described.
Twitter users have also reached out to CEO Elon Musk to confirm the authenticity of the data leak, but he has not yet addressed the issue.
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