Twitter flaw: 17 million phone numbers matched to respective accounts

A flaw in Twitter's system has allowed a researcher to connect 17 million phone numbers to their respective accounts.

A security researcher named Ibrahim Balic has spoken to TechCrunch about a flaw in Twitter's Android app. This security flaw gave Balic a window of opportunity to successfully match 17 million phone numbers with their respective accounts.

The users that had their numbers exposed and linked to their accounts were located in counters such as France, Greece, and Turkey. It should also be noted that some of the exposed numbers and accounts were prominent politicians and officials.

Twitter spokesperson Aly Pavela said, "We take these reports seriously and are actively investigating to ensure this bug can't be exploited again. When we learned about this bug, we suspended the accounts used to inappropriately access people's personal information. Protecting the privacy and safety of the people who use Twitter is our number one priority and we remain focused on rapidly stopping spam and abuse originating from the use of Twitter's APIs. "