Hackers published the email addresses of over 235 million Twitter users on an online forum, according to an Israeli cybersecurity expert.
The leak “will unfortunately lead to a lot of hacking, targeted phishing and doxxing,” Alon Gal, the co-founder of Israeli cybersecurity firm Hudson Rock, wrote in a post on LinkedIn.
Gal described the breach as “one of the most significant leaks I’ve seen,” posting screenshots on Wednesday of stolen lists of email addresses he found on a dark web hacker forum.
“This database is going to be used by hackers, political hacktivists and of course governments to harm our privacy even further,” Gal told the Washington Post.
Gal first spoke about the leak in a December 24 social media post. According to the New York Post, Twitter has yet to publicly comment on the security breach.
It is also unclear if Twitter has taken any steps to fix the issue.
The hacking reportedly could have occurred as early as 2021, months before Elon Musk purchased Twitter.
The US Federal Trade Commission and the Irish Data Protection Commission have both been watching Twitter for its compliance with a US consent order and EU data protection rules. Twitter’s European headquarters is located in Ireland.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)