This vulnerability made it possible to collect user data simply by knowing someone’s email address or phone number.
Another example of where it pays off to have separate email addresses/aliases for every website/service you use.
I think it pays even more to not use X
That's re-victimization. People do people stuff, like using social networks. Furthermore, the database probably goes as far as previous to being bought, enshittified and renamed by Musk. So... you're not being fair.
I think there's a fine line between victim-blaming and identifying an object lesson. We all understand why people started using twitter, and people are creatures of habit. But this is an example of why people should stop using twitter. We're not saying "this is your fault because you're stupid if you're still on twitter." The message is "this should serve as a wake up call to anyone stuck in their habits."
100%
That's re-victimization. People do people stuff, like using social networks.
Giving one's real name and real information to a social network who is intending to track everything one does or says and the people one does or says it with is idiocy and it has never not been.
People do people stuff like not listening to people who have constantly been telling them not to push the button.
People stuff also includes continuing to use these horror networks for years after knowing full well they shouldn't.
I'm fairy sure the guy above said "use X" not use social media. X is a particularly shitty platform.
Wait, so you literally have hundreds of accounts? How do you manage them all?
My email provider allows for unlimited aliases. So, while I have 600+ email addresses, emails to them all end up in the same mailbox.
The accounts for all the websites and services (with their specific email address) are in a KeePass database and they all have random passwords, too.
The only small issue is when you have to contact support of some service. Then, I have to configure the specific email address in my client so they can match that to my account with them. But most email clients allow multiple sender addresses without having to fiddle with the rest of the settings.
My email provider allows for unlimited aliases. So, while I have 600+ email addresses, emails to them all end up in the same mailbox.
I do this too. The unique email address I create for each is identifiable to the place I'm using it. This has other benefits. If an organization you created and account with sells or has a data breech you know exactly which company it was when you start receiving spam or phishing email directed to that address. This is also nice because you can "black hole" that email address and all the spam goes with it even future spam not sent yet.
Exactly! I add a random string to each email address, too, so you can’t just guess other addresses. So, it’s usually something similar to lemmy-r4nd0m@mydomain.me. And, whenever a breach happens, I’ll generate a new random part and set that as my email address and invalidate the old one. Until the next breach. (Looking at you, LinkedIn…)
That is clever!
This is what I do as well. I purchased my own custom domain name and run aliases off it using Addy. So as an example, an email for an online account would look like: random9.words@mycustomemail.com
Then I feed these accounts into a password manager so I don’t have to remember them.
All the aliases forward mail directly to my main inbox. Companies never see what my real address is. If I get spam, I know which company either sold my data or leaked my data. I can then take action by simply turning off that email alias and then spinning up a new one.
The best thing about owning your custom domain is that you’re in control and never have to change your email addresses. If I want to move to a new email provider, I can easily do that. The process, simplified:
Edit: All providers make it very simple to set up a custom domain. If you can follow instructions and copy and paste text, their systems will run checks to make sure you did it correctly and it’s syncing properly. Very easy for those who aren’t technical.
Password manager plus an emailing alias service. Protonpass integrates with SimpleLogin but there’s also ones like Firefox relay and anomaly (all open source)
Yes, and Bitwarden+SimpleLogin. Bitwarden to keep track of login info including the alias that is used for that site. SimpleLogin is where the aliasing is actually handled, they have a decent UI for enabling/disabling or generating reverse aliases (for outgoing emails) when needed.
It does take a little more effort to manage it, but it’s worth the payoff. I’ve been using this setup for about 9 months now and I finally got my first spam email a week ago. I looked at the address it was sent to, it was an alias I used at a site I ordered something from about 6 months ago. I sent them a message letting them know that either someone at their company is selling customer info to scammers or their database has been leaked, then I shut off the alias. No more spam.
I think they mean 10 million users, 30 million abandoned accounts, and 160 million bots.
Seems like a dedicated person might be able to prove that. Go through the available data and see what % of leaked accounts actually point to a real person, or even a unique person. If it's mostly bots you'd see that pretty quick
Check how many accounts pushing republican propaganda only post during St. Petersburg business hours... 🙃
This is why I gtfo when Elon took over. I knew something like this would happen.
Exactly this. We knew that everything would get shaky after he fired all those people and a data leak is the consequence
Quick everyone do their banking on it!
this leak has proven in the past to be fatally dangerous to anonymous activists fighting tyrant governments all around the world. let's hope it does not fall into the wrong hands
If you use anything but TOR together with spoofed VPNs for "activism" against a government that would jail/kill you, you are being reckless.
If you use X for your activism, you're not an activist you're a fed honeypot.
Imagine being stupid enough to use x.com for your activism 🙄
It fell into the wrong hands 3 years ago. If those people failed to recognize the danger they put themselves in by continuing to use the platform they are shit out of luck cause Musk will never take responsibility.
Thoughts and prayers
That’s like, 400 actual non-bot accounts. Nobody is safe anymore!
Massive X data leak affects over 200 million products.
FTFY.
Massive X data leak affects over 200 million bots.
So what is that, like 6 or 7 people?
A sock for every puppet.
It also includes the people that deleted their Twitter accounts following the acquisition. I'm one of those people and I'm especially annoyed because I only used that blasted app only to register to some giveaways when I was in middle school. I have since discontinued that email account, but still.
If it had happened now, that figure might be accurate. However, this was originally exploited in 2022, so it's probably pretty bad.
Someone should check the email and phone number of Adrian Dittman to see if they match Elon's. Idiots can argue that it isn't Elon despite speech pattern evidence, but it's harder to argue when both of them share the same identifying info.
I thought he fessed up to that
Who is/was Adrian Dittman? Out of the loop of Twitter drama.
How many of them are Elmo's alt-accounts?
Yes
Or this could be publicity stunt "look how many users we have, many users, beutifull users like never before, nobody knew how many users as there".
I still can't believe Xerox still has that many users
In July 2022, Twitter confirmed that someone had exploited the vulnerability before it could be fixed. “After reviewing a sample of the data offered for sale, we confirmed that a malicious party had taken advantage of the problem before it was addressed,” Twitter stated at the time.
lol
lol
lmaoooo
Bluesky people why are people still using Twitter? :)
Bluesky will be in the same boat given enough time. Mastodon (or other actually federated options) is the only proper stand-in for twitter.
Mastodon is much better and resistant to enshittification. Bluesky is not federated or decentralized.
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