Twitter warns phone numbers & emails associated w/ Vine accounts were briefly made public

Twitter announced earlier this year that its micro video sharing service Vine would transition into a simple camera app. Despite the transition, however, Twitter today is alerting Vine users that a bug briefly made phone numbers and emails associated with Vine accounts publicly visible…

In an email sent to affected users and in a message posted on Medium, Twitter explains that phone numbers and emails were exposed for “less than 24 hours.” The company reiterates that this information does not give anyone the ability to access accounts and that no passwords were exposed. Nevertheless, Twitter says that affected users should “be cautious” when it comes to random phone calls, emails, and text messages.

Twitter specifies that the bug affected the Vine Archive, which is the service that is keeping old Vines available for users to view, though it’s no longer accepting new uploads.

Here is the full message Twitter is sharing in wake of the bug:

Dear Vine account holder,

We would like to inform the Vine community that we were alerted to — and immediately fixed — a bug that affected the Vine Archive for less than 24 hours. The bug had the potential to expose the email address or phone number associated with a Vine account to third parties under certain circumstances.

We have already notified all affected account holders for whom we have a verified email address on file, so if you weren’t notified, you most likely weren’t affected.

While we have no information indicating that any user information impacted by this incident has been misused, it’s always a good idea to be cautious of emails or text messages received from unknown senders. Please keep in mind that Vine will only send communications from @twitter.com, and we will never send emails with attachments or request your password by email.

For more tips on how to avoid fake emails and stay safe online, read the Twitter Help Center and the FTC’s guide on phishing.

Back in October, Twitter announced that it was shutting down its Vine mobile applications, though it later semi-reversed course and said Vine would transition into a “Vine Camera” app. Nevertheless, the social aspect of the service was still shuttered.