What Does the Twitter Data Breach Mean for Cybersecurity?

In January 2023, the database from Twitter containing over 200 million users was published on a hacker forum, BreachForums. The data included names, usernames, and email addresses, and luckily does not include passwords or highly sensitive data.

Originally the data was scraped when an API vulnerability was exploited and exposed from June 2021 to January 2022. This vulnerability was exploited many times by different hackers and led to multiple ransomware attempts and leaks in the second half of 2022.

While Twitter’s cybersecurity challenges haven’t changed yet, the decrease in staff numbers could mean that the company could struggle to fix security flaws or respond in the event of a massic hack. Without a full security team, it can be difficult to patch vulnerabilities in its system.

What This Means for Your Company’s Cybersecurity

If a piece of malware is activated on or takes over certain accounts, they can start tweeting things that may not be accurate or are entirely false. If your company has a business account with twitter, or even if many people on your leadership team do, the results of being hacked could be detrimental to the trust and reliability in your company.

Using social media to gain unauthorized access to your company’s resources is a common problem in today’s digital world. The risk can be minimized by following basic cybersecurity principles to protect your business.

4 Cybersecurity Principles to Protect Your Business

1. Train your staff

A formal training program run by your IT team or a third party company can educate your staff on what to look out for and common tricks hackers use. This kind of training should be a regular part of company training and policies.

2. Beware of email requests for information

Warn your team and be on the lookout for any email requests asking for personal information, password resets, or requests to click on links, especially from unknown senders. 

3. Be vigilant about phishing attacks

Many phishing attacks happen around tax season, the holidays, or disasters like data breaches. Hackers are very clever with their attempts and many are difficult to spot at a first glance.

4. Create strong passwords

Everyone deals with dozens, if not hundreds, of passwords in our lives. Consider the use of a company-wide password manager to create strong passwords that are difficult to hack.

Implement Cybersecurity Solutions at Your Business

To help protect your business against hackers, data breaches, and security vulnerabilities, installing a proven cybersecurity system is crucial. At PacGenesis, we partner with industry-leading cybersecurity providers to enable your business to protect its data and resources. We meet with you to learn what you’re looking for and what you have in place, pairing you with the right solution. We’re passionate about helping keep your business secure, so contact us to get started.
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