X Breach: 3 scary things hackers can do with the information and how to protect yourself

By now, you may have heard about the massive data leakstemming from an alleged breach at Elon Musk's X, formerly known as Twitter.

The leak includes account metadata as well as email addresses for roughly 200 million accounts on X. Thankfully, the leak does not include sensitive private credentials such as account passwords.

However, that doesn't mean users who are affected by the X data leak are in the clear. Hackers and other cybercriminals may not have direct access to these accounts, but they have plenty of information that's needed to gain access to an account from a targeted individual.

Here's what hackers can do with leaked account emails and metadata from the X breach or really any future leak.

No longer anonymous

Here's a big one. The X leak includes millions of user emails. On X, this information isn't public. Accounts that were formerly anonymous may now be tied to the actual individual behind the account. 

This is bad for a few reasons. Let's say a political dissident has been actively running an anonymous account to speak out against their authoritarian government. This individual may now be outed. In some countries, this can mean imprisonment or worse. The ability to be anonymous is what gave them the ability to speak freely. Leaks may now endanger that ability and even their lives.

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

On a much less serious but still significant note, users who ran burner accounts may now also be outed if the email they used for the burner ties them to their real identity.

SEE ALSO: X is sold. But Musk is still in control.

Phishing campaigns

The metadata provided in the leak may include a slew of publicly available information, but combined with all the other metadata and leaked email address, a bad actor has everything they need to carry out a phishing campaign via email.

X users should proceed with caution if they receive any emails purporting to be official correspondence from X. Hackers may utilize those leaked emails to send the affected accounts phishing emails, or fake emails that look like they are from X in order to trick a user into providing their private credentials, such as their account password.

More savvy users may not fall for a phishing email that just copies an official X email. However, even savvier hackers will utilize the leaked metadata to further legitimize their email and trick the targeted user. For example, the leaked X data includes information such as location data and from which app the user published their last tweet. A hacker could use this data to further disguise their phishing email and make it seem like a real email from X. 

Social engineering

A cybercriminal can take things even further with the information in the leaked data through social engineering campaigns.

Scammers and other threat actors could weaponize this metadata and trick X users into providing more sensitive data about their account. For example, a bad actor could reach out to an email address tied to an X account belonging to a company while pretending to be an X employee. An employee of the company could respond and be tricked into giving the X employee access to their account. From there, a bad actor could potentially gain access to other third-party accounts connected to the targeted company.

X users should remain diligent and proceed with caution when receiving an unsolicited email claiming to be from X.