Irish privacy watchdog investigates Twitter data breach of 5.4 million users – Computing – News

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission has launched an investigation into a data breach on Twitter. Additionally, the hackers released the email addresses and phone numbers of around 5.4 million users.

DPC investigates whether Twitter has violated certain provisions of the GDPR with the data breach of “one or more datasets”. If this turns out to be the case, the watchdog can fine the social media company. Fines for violating these types of privacy rules amount to a maximum of four percent of annual turnover.

The data breach occurred before takeover of Tesla CEO Elon Musk in late October. Earlier this year, Twitter users’ personal information was put up for sale on a hacking forum for $30,000. The data was obtained through a API vulnerabilitywhich was corrected by Twitter in January.

Additionally, security expert Chad Loder has revealed that there may be even more personal data was collected using the previously fixed API bug, such as account names, bios, screen names, Twitter IDs, and verification badges.