The crypto-verse dealt with attacks on DeFi bridges and bankrupt platforms throughout the year. Now, the community along with other Twitter users might have to deal with the stress of their personal data being leaked. A recent report highlighted how the data of 400 million Twitter users were at stake.
Hudson Rock, a cybercrime intelligence firm, claimed that private emails and phone numbers linked to Twitter accounts were up for sale on the black market. This was marked as a “credible threat.” Twitter is home to a wide range of individuals. It is home to the world’s richest man as well as the average Joe.
In the Twitter thread, Hudon Rock noted that information pertaining to prominent crypto personalities like Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin was out in the open. The firm further wrote,
“The private database contains devastating amounts of information including emails and phone numbers of high profile users such as AOC, Kevin O’Leary, Vitalik Buterin & more”
Vitalik Buterin is the co-founder of the second-largest crypto network, Ethereum. Shark Tank host Kevin O’Leary has been a victim of immense backlash for his support towards FTX. Therefore, any leak with regard to his data could bring about trouble.
Here’s what the hacker is seeking
The hacker put up a post on Breached and was seeking buyers. However, the ill-doer also gave Elon Musk, the current CEO of Twitter, an option to avoid this sale. The perpetrator asked Musk to shell out $276 million in order to save the leaked data. The hacker further wrote,
“…data will not be sold to anyone else which will prevent a lot of celebrities and politicians from Phishing, Crypto scams, Sim swapping, Doxxing and other things that will make your users”
In addition to this, the hacker also pointed out Musk would have to face the wrath of the General Data Protection Regulation agency if the data is sold.
Furthermore, the number of Twitter accounts that are at risk could be far-fetched. Twitter has a total of 450 million monthly active users.
Is Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover not going as planned?
Back when Musk officially acquired Twitter for a whopping $44 billion, the crypto community was ecstatic. Several were looking forward to several crypto-centric upgrades on the social media giant. The Dogecoin community in particular has been on their toes. It should be noted that Musk hasn’t made any announcement pertaining to this. Therefore, his Twitter takeover hasn’t benefited the crypto industry yet.
Musk’s Twitter has been a bane as opposed to a boon to the crypto-verse, as seen by the most recent incident in which the founder of the Ethereum network’s data was at risk.