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Twitter hacked, email ids of over 200 million users leaked: Report

Hackers likely to use the datas for phishing

TWITTER-SAFETY/ Twitter logo | Reuters

Over 200 million Twitter users email addresses were reportedly stolen by hackers and later posted on an online hacking forum. The reports of the breach surfaced on social media platforms on Wednesday. 

Alon Gal, co-founder of cybersecurity-monitoring firm Hudson Rock has posted on LinkedIn that "Hackers will use the new leaked Twitter database to target, crypto Twitter accounts, hack high profile accounts and political accounts and also for doxxing." 

"Agencies around the world will use this database to further harm our privacy," Gal said in his post. 

According to reports, Gal posted this breach reports on social media on December 24. However, Twitter has not commented anything on the report so far. 

Troy Hunt, creator of breach-notification site Have I Been Pwned, viewed the leaked data and said on Twitter that it seemed "pretty much what it's been described as", reported Reuters.

Earlier, claims were made in December that over 400 million email addresses and phone numbers were stolen. However, there was no clue as to the identity or location of the hackers behind the act. 

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk closed the $44-billion Twitter deal in  October last year, becoming the new owner of the microblogging site. He has also fired at least four top executives of Twitter, including its Indian-origin CEO Parag Agrawal.

In a statement published on the social media platform, Musk said he acquired Twitter since it was important for future civilisation to have a common digital town square. Musk said, “I didn't do it to make more money. I did it to try to help humanity, whom I love.” 

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