Over 200 Twitter users' email addresses have reportedly become compromised in hands of hackers

It might be 2023, but Twitter's turbulent times seem to have no ending for the time being, thanks to a vulnerability that goes back to 2021. Multiple sources have reported that over 200 million users may have compromised their email addresses to hackers, who could have used them for their own nefarious purposes.

It's hard to judge how much of the numbers are apt, given the scale of things. However, this won't be the first instance where social media users' credentials have been compromised due to an apparent data breach. Multiple sources have documented the numbers, all of whom are somehow linked to the cyber security domain.

The news was uncovered thanks to BleepingComputer, who managed to get hold of the data dump. Since then, Microsoft Regional Director Troy Hunt shared vital information on his own Twitter account as he went through the details being sent. In a series of tweets, Hunt informed that the number of compromised email addresses stands at over 200 million.

This should ring an alarm bell for many users as the extent of the damage remains unknown. Many cyber security users believe that this could, in turn, increase the chances of direct hacking of a user's accounts.

Alternatively, many innocent social media users could become victims of doxxing or phishing and give away even more data.

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Twitter had previously claimed that the vulnerability didn't compromise any account

According to The Washington Post, the cause of the compromise goes back to a vulnerability first discovered in 2021.

Since then, hackers have been able to extract confidential information from many users. It's unclear if it happened all at once or if it the vulnerability was patched up.

Twitter has since commented on the vulnerability in August 2022 but claimed that nobody had taken advantage of the leaked data. However, cyber security experts believe otherwise, and databases have been sold on the black market.

The implications of this data breach on Twitter may not be immediately known, as the news is still fresh. However, as far as users are concerned, there's no need to be alarmed immediately.

However, readers are advised to immediately change the password for their Twitter account to ensure that authentication is turned on. Any suspicious emails or links must be ignored, as those could deliberately put the user into more trouble. It remains to be seen whether the social media platform will make any information official by accepting or rejecting the claim.