(NewsGlobal.com)- Hackers have published the personal information of 5.4 million Twitter users, including high-profile celebrities and politicians, to an online forum after stealing the data in December 2021.
Twitter said the vulnerability that allowed the hackers to steal the information was fixed in January 2022. The breach included personal phone numbers and email addresses, including those of high-profile celebrities and politicians.
Before the information was published on a hacking forum, a hacker tried to sell the data on the same forum for $30,000 in July.
Cybersecurity expert Chad Loder first broke the news about the leak on Twitter.
“Any Twitter account with ‘Let others find you by your phone enabled in Discoverability settings is affected. All accounts for the entire country code of France (+33) are listed in the dataset with their mobile numbers,” he wrote.
The technology outlet, The Bleeping Computer, reported that the data dump affects people in Europe, Israel, and the United States.
The leak comes months after former Twitter security chief Peiter Zatko filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that the social media platform’s efforts to prevent hacking have “extreme, egregious deficiencies.”
Despite the issues, statistics from two independent research companies, Apptopia and Sensor Tower, show that Musk taking control has given Twitter a renewed interest.
One social media user stated, “We can’t ignore the increasing interaction on Twitter. Even though I disagree with some of Musk’s choices and how they were carried out, he is still in charge, and Twitter looks more vibrant since he took it over.
The CEO of SpaceX purchased Twitter on October 27 for $44 billion, and since taking over, he has been in the news for the mass exodus of staff members. It is also rumored that he required his workers to work upwards of 84 hours per week to meet deadlines.
Musk’s administration fired several Twitter employees and declared its goal of reaching 931 million users by 2028 while also quintupling its annual revenue.
