By now, you may have heard about the Massive data leak Stemming from an alleged breach at Elon musk‘S x, formerly knowledge as Twitter.
The Leak Includes Account Metadata as Well as Email Addresses for Roughly 200 Million Accounts on XThankfully, the leak does not include sensitive private credentials such as account passwords.
However, that doesn’t mean users who are affected by the x data leak are in the clear. Hackers and other cybercriminals may not have directed to these accounts, but they have planty of information that that’s needed to gain access to an account from a Targeted Individual.
Here’s what hackers can do with leaked account emails and metadata from the x breach or really any future leak.
No longer anonymous
Here’s a big one. The x leak includes of user emails. On x, this information isn’t public. Accounts that were formerly anonymous may now be tied to the accountual individual behind the account.
This is bad for a less reasons. Let’s say a political disorder has been actively running an anonymous account to Speak out Against their Authoritarian Government. This individual may now be outd. In some countries, this can mean improisonment or WORSE. The ability to be anonymous is what gave them the ability to spendak free. Leaks may now endanger that ability and even their lives.
Mashable light speed
On a much less serial but still Significant Note, Users who Ran Burner Accounts May Now also be outed if the email they used for the burner ties them to their real identity.
Phishing campaigns
The metadata provided in the leak may include a SLEW of Publicly available information, but combined with all the other metadata and leaked era Carry out a Phishing Campaign Via email.
X users should proceed with caution if they receive any emails puroporting to be official correspondence from Emails, or fake emails that look like they are from x in order to trick a user into providing their providing credit credentials, such as their account password.
More Savvy users may not fall for a phishing email that just copies an official x email. However, even Savvier Hackers will utilize the leaked metadata to further legitimize their email and trick the targeted user. For example, the leaked x data include information such as location data and from which app the user published their last tweet. A Hacker Cold Use this data to further disguise their phishing email and make it seem like a real email from x.
Social engineering
A cybercriminal can take things even further with the information in the leaked data through Social Engineering Campaigns.
Scammers and other threat actors could weaponize this metadata and trick x users into providing more sensitive data about their account. For example, a bad actor could bring out to an email address tied to an x account belonging to a company while pretending to be an x employee. An Employee of the Company Blad Respond and be tricked into giving the X Employee access to their account. From there, a bad actor could potentially Gain access to other third-party accounts Connected to the targeted company.
X users should remain diligent and proceed with cautions when receiving an unsolicited email claiming to be from x.