Authority investigating leak of 5 million Twitter user data
Multiple international media have reported that personal data for 5.4 million Twitter users are available on the internet and the Data Protection Commission (DPC) in Ireland has launched an investigation. One or more collated datasets of Twitter users are reported to have leaked. Twitter’s parent company,Twitter International Unlimited Company (TIC), is formally registered in Dublin.
BBC reported that hacker, “Ryushi”, is demanding $200,000 to hand over the data – reported to include that of some celebrities – and delete it.
The datasets were reported to map Twitter IDs to email addresses and/or telephone numbers. The DPC says that “one or more provisions of the GDPR and/or the Data Protection Act may have been, and/or are being, infringed in relation to Twitter Users’ personal data”.
“Accordingly, the DPC considers it appropriate to determine whether TIC has complied with its obligations, as controller, in connection with the processing of personal data of its users or whether any provision(s) of the GDPR and/or the Act have been, and/or are being, infringed by TIC in this respect.”
The Guardian reported that data of US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was included in the sample of data published by the hacker.
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