Breach date: 2022-01-01. Added to this index: 2022-08-13. Accounts affected: about 6.7M. Domain: twitter.com.
What happened
In January 2022, a vulnerability in Twitter's platform allowed an attacker to build a database of the email addresses and phone numbers of millions of users of the social platform. In a disclosure notice later shared in August 2022, Twitter advised that the vulnerability was related to a bug introduced in June 2021 and that they are directly notifying impacted customers. The impacted data included either email address or phone number alongside other public information including the username, display name, bio, location and profile photo. The data included 6.7M unique email addresses across both active and suspended accounts, the latter appearing in a separate list of 1.4M addresses.
Breach data sourced from Have I Been Pwned, used under CC BY 4.0. Additional breach metadata provided by XposedOrNot. DataExposed is an independent service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by either.
What was exposed
Bios: The free text about me section you wrote for a profile on a dating app, forum, social network, gaming platform or professional site.
Email addresses: The email address you used to register or log in. It is the most common field in breaches because it doubles as your username on most sites.
Geographic locations: A general location recorded on your account, such as a country, state, city, postcode or region, either typed in by you or estimated from your IP address.
Names: Your first name, surname and sometimes middle name or initials, as you gave them when you signed up. It appears in almost every breach because nearly every account asks for it.
Phone numbers: Your mobile or landline number, collected at signup for contact, delivery updates, marketing and two-factor codes.
Profile photos: The main picture on your account, usually a real photo of your face on dating, professional, social and messaging services.
Usernames: The handle or login name you chose for an account, which may be public on forums, games and social platforms or used privately to sign in.
What to do now
Check whether your own address is in this dataset with the free email breach check.
Review the accounts connected to this service and turn on two-factor authentication.
Turn on two-factor authentication on your email account first, because it is the reset path for everything else.
Treat calls and messages that quote real details about you as hostile until you verify them another way.
Frequently asked questions
What data was leaked in the Twitter breach?
The Twitter breach exposed Bios, Email addresses, Geographic locations, Names, Phone numbers, Profile photos, Usernames. About 6.7M accounts were affected.
Was I affected by the Twitter breach?
Run the free email breach check with the address you used on that service. It will tell you whether your address appears in this dataset.
What should I do about the Twitter breach?
Treat any message that quotes details from this breach as suspicious, turn on two-factor authentication, and consider removing your details from people-search sites if your address or phone was included.