In late December 2022, a cybersecurity firm raised an alarm about a seller offering what it believed to be personal contact details tied to some 400 million Twitter accounts, a claim it could partly test but not fully confirm. It is the kind of moment that reminds us how much of a public life now rests in databases that few people fully see and fewer control. The listing reached across politics, business, government and the bot-filled margins of the platform, and the seller's attempt to press the company's new owner for payment turned a technical flaw into a question of leverage. Whether the n
Hudson Rock Says Data of 400 Million Twitter Users, Including Public Figures, Is Being Sold on the Dark Web
Personal emails and phone numbers of hundreds of millions of users may be exposed for sale, creating risks of phishing and harassment.
In late December 2022, a cybersecurity firm raised an alarm about a seller offering what it believed to be personal contact details tied to some 400 million Twitter accounts, a claim it could partly test but not fully confirm. It is the kind of moment that reminds us how much of a public life now rests in databases that few people fully see and fewer control. The listing reached across politics, business, government and the bot-filled margins of the platform, and the seller's attempt to press the company's new owner for payment turned a technical flaw into a question of leverage. Whether the number holds, and whether anyone answers for it, remains open.
On December 24, 2022, the Israeli cybersecurity firm Hudson Rock posted a warning on Twitter itself. It said a credible threat actor was selling data it believed belonged to 400 million users, including emails and phone numbers tied to high-profile account holders such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Kevin O'Leary and Vitalik Buterin.
Hudson Rock was careful about its claims. It could not fully verify that the database held 400 million users, though an independent check suggested the data itself appeared legitimate. The figure remains the seller's claim, partly tested but not confirmed.
A shared screenshot showed how far the listing reached into public life, including Google's Sundar Pichai, Donald Trump and his son, India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and the World Health Organization. The pool also included many automated bot accounts, so ordinary users sat alongside businesses, governments and machines.
The seller reportedly obtained the data in early 2022 through a Twitter vulnerability, then urged Elon Musk to buy it or face GDPR lawsuits. Hudson Rock called this an attempt to extort him. The listing sits on the dark web, where such sales are often, though not always, tied to illegal activity.
The danger lies in what exposed emails and phone numbers make possible: phishing, harassment, and sharper risks for officials, journalists and public figures. Because the data is for sale, no one knows who may end up holding it. Hudson Rock says it will keep following the case, and the open questions are whether Twitter responds, whether the data is confirmed at full scale, and whether GDPR complaints follow.
On December 24, 2022, the Israeli cybersecurity firm Hudson Rock posted a warning on Twitter itself. It said it had found a credible threat actor selling the data of 400 million Twitter users. The database, the firm said, held emails and phone numbers belonging to high-profile account holders, and it named the congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the investor Kevin O'Leary and the Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin among them.
Hudson Rock was careful about what it could and could not stand behind. It said it was not possible at this stage to fully verify that the database really contains 400 million users. But an independent check, it said, suggested the data itself appears legitimate, and the firm promised to follow up on any developments. The figure of 400 million is therefore the seller's claim, partly tested but not confirmed.
The firm also shared a screenshot showing a chunk of the data. It shows how far the listing reaches into public life. Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Google, appears in it, as do Donald Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr. So do the Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the US Department of Interior, the French Ministry of Justice and the World Health Organization. Further names include SpaceX, the former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison, the actor Cara Delevingne and the British broadcaster Piers Morgan.
The report adds that the pool of accounts also includes many legitimate bot accounts, the automated profiles that track and update various kinds of information. So the count mixes ordinary users with business figures, politicians, government bodies and automated accounts.
According to Hudson Rock, the seller says the data was obtained in early 2022 through a vulnerability in Twitter. The seller then tried to turn the claim into leverage against the company's new owner. In the post, the threat actor urged Elon Musk to buy the data or face lawsuits under GDPR, the European Union's data protection regulation. Hudson Rock described this as an attempt to extort Musk.
The listing sits on the dark web, the part of the deep web that standard search engines do not index and ordinary browsers cannot reach. It generally requires specialised software such as the Tor browser. Such sites are often used for illegal activity, though not always.
The exposure of personal emails and phone numbers at this scale matters because of what they make possible. Those details can fuel phishing attempts and harassment, and for officials, journalists and well-known figures, those risks are sharper. Because the database is for sale, there is no telling who ends up holding it.
What comes next is not yet clear. Hudson Rock says it will keep following the case. The questions to watch are whether Twitter responds publicly to the claim, whether the data is independently confirmed at full scale, and whether any GDPR complaints follow from the seller's threat.
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Politics & Governance