Hacker Steals Personal Data of 40 Crore Twitter Users, Puts It Up For Sale On Dark Web
- Twitter has experienced a lot of activity in 2022.
- A hacker has obtained information from about 40 crore users.
- Users who are purportedly affected include Salman Khan from Bollywood and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
For Twitter, 2022 has been a busy year. More issues are on the horizon at the Elon Musk-led corporation, even though not everything there is going perfectly. A hacker may have obtained the personal data of about 40 crore people, including Salman Khan and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, according to one of the most recent reports. All of the personal information is being sold on the dark web.
According to a research by the Israeli cyber intelligence company Hudson Rock, Twitter user data that is offered for sale on the dark web includes private information including email addresses, names, usernames, followers, and sometimes even phone numbers.
Although hackers had previously gotten the data of millions of Twitter users, this incident is unquestionably the biggest ever. Recall how data from more than 5.4 million Twitter users was leaked a few months ago? The Irish Data Protection Commission has announced a new investigation into data leaks (DPC).
In regards to the most recent revelation, an unnamed hacker released a sample of the data on a hacker forum. The sample data provided an example of the kind of information available for purchase on the dark web. It added that the breach had also led to the hacking of a few well-known accounts. Hudson Rock claims that a weakness in the API may have given the hacker access to the personal data of millions of Twitter users.
Some of these high-profile account holders include - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
- SpaceX
- CBS Media
- Donald Trump Jr.
- Doja Cat
- Charlie Puth
- Sundar Pichai
- Salman Khan
- NASA's JWST account
- NBA
- Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India
- Shawn Mendes
- Social Media of WHO
The vulnerability may have allowed the hacker access to the personal data of millions of Twitter users, including email addresses and phone numbers. Hudson Rock published screenshots of the hacker's dark web posting. The following was written there by the hacker: 'If Elon Musk or Twitter are reading this, they already run the risk of facing fines under the GDPR for a breach that exposed the personal information of 5.4 million users.
Only if you want to spare yourself the $276 million USD in fines for GDPR violations that Facebook had to pay (as a result of 533 million users being scraped) should you purchase this data.' The hacker also mentioned that he is ready to 'negotiate' with an intermediary.