A hacker who uses the name Ryushi claims to have hacked into Twitter through a now-patched API vulnerability and is offering the information for sale for $200,000 on the Dark Web to other cybercriminals who could use the information to target the Twitter users for scams and identity theft.  As proof of Ryushi’s claim, he or she has posted as a sample, the personal data of 1,000 Twitter users including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Donald Trump Jr., Mark Cuban and Piers Morgan.

The information stolen appears to be email addresses, names, user names and phone numbers as well as other information.  This information can be leveraged through social engineered spear phishing emails and text messages to lure unsuspecting victims into scams and identity theft.  In addition, your phone number is valuable to a criminal who can use it to do a SIM swap or other threatening activities. Here is a link to an earlier Scam of the day in which I describe all the risks and danger of having your cell phone number fall into the wrong hands. https://scamicide.com/2022/06/19/scam-of-the-day-june-20-2022-why-you-should-keep-your-cell-phone-number-private/

TIPS

This data breach highlights the fact that regardless of how diligent you are at keeping your personal information secure, you are only as secure as the platforms with the weakest security that have your information.  Consequently, there are a number of steps we should all do to protect ourselves including having unique passwords for all of your accounts, never clicking on links in emails and text messages or downloading attachments unless you have absolutely confirmed that they are legitimate, freezing your credit reports and having a PIN for your cell phone account to help prevent SIM swapping.

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