United Kingdom: Hackers stole the email addresses of more than 200 million Twitter users and posted them on an online hacking forum on 5th January 2023, as per the report.
Mr. Alon Gal, the co-founder of Israeli cybersecurity monitoring company Hudson Rock, stated on LinkedIn that the breach “will, unfortunately, lead to a lot of hacking, targeted phishing, and doxxing.” One of the biggest spills I’ve ever seen, the co-founder noted.
Mr. Gal initially discussed the report on social media on December 24th. Since then, no comments or questions regarding the breach have been given by Twitter. What steps Twitter has done to look into or fix the problem are unclear.
The identity or location of the hacker or hackers responsible for the intrusion is unknown. According to the statement, It may have taken place as early as 2021, which was before Elon Musk took over ownership of the company last year.
At first, there were conflicting stories regarding the size and scope of the breach, with early reports in December 2023 claiming 400 million email addresses and phone numbers were taken. Twitter is being watched for compliance with European data protection laws and a US consent order by the data protection authority in Ireland, where Twitter’s European headquarters are located, and by the US Federal Trade Commission.
The data was hacked due to a flaw in Twitter’s software, experts told. The platform had 237.8 million daily active users as of July 2022, according to company data.