Hacker claimed it obtained millions of records from Twitter users

A cybercriminal claimed that it successfully acquired the emails and phone numbers of about 400 million Twitter users during a breach. Moreover, the hacker urged Twitter CEO Elon Musk to purchase back the stolen data set for an undisclosed price.

The posting included alleged private email addresses for three dozen well-known personalities and contained a link to a spreadsheet with a thousand records. These records belong to a handful of public institutions whose listed email addresses appear legitimate.

The hackers used a male avatar and the handle “Ryushi” in his posting, explaining that he scrapped the records through a vulnerability. Ryushi did not elaborate more on how he got a hold of the documents in its Telegram channel.

 

Twitter users have been dealing with all sorts of trouble after the company’s turnover to its new CEO.

 

This incident could have a massive impact on the social media platform once experts verify the records of Twitter users. Twitter’s CEO will face backlash from its user as he stated that he would oversee the social media network while remaining its majority owner.

A few months ago, Twitter appeared into a consent order with the United States Federal Trade Agreement binding it to maintain a privacy and information program for the next 20 years.

The agreement concluded a federal investigation into Twitter’s use of email addresses and phone numbers for advertising purposes when they were collected by the platform to be used for MFA authentication. Twitter also paid a fine that reached about $150 million.

Furthermore, the Irish Data Protection Commission announced last week that an investigation into the August incident where the contact records of more than five million users were dumped on the same hacker forum by Ryushi.

The Irish data protection authority explained that Twitter violated provisions of the General Data Regulation, which is Europe’s privacy regulation that often releases heavy fines. Last month, the Ireland-based agency invoked the GDPR to fine Facebook, reaching a staggering 265 million euros after a data set containing details of more than 500 million social media users were exposed online last year.