A member of a criminal data breach forum claims to have obtained the emails and phone numbers of 400 million Twitter users in a posting that urges social media CEO Elon Musk to buy the data set for an unspecified price.
The posting, apparently first noticed by Israeli cyber intelligence firm Hudson Rock, includes alleged private email addresses for three dozen well-known personalities, including New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ethereum cryptocurrency founder Vitalik Buterin and cybersecurity reporter Brian Krebs.
The posting also includes a link to a spreadsheet containing 1,000 records, a handful of which belong to public institutions and whose listed email addresses appear legitimate.
The poster, who uses a male avatar and goes by the handle “Ryushi,” says the records were exposed for scraping “via a vulnerability” and did not respond to a request for elaboration over his Telegram channel.
If verified, the data breach would be a further blow to Twitter and its beleaguered chief executive, who has said he will step down from overseeing the social media network while remaining its owner.
