Twitter Asks Users to #Reset Passwords

Twitter Logo (Twitter)

Attention Twitter users: If you've been trying to access your Twitter account today, many of you can't.  You'll have to (this is a good place for a hash tag) #reset your password.

Twitter may have had a record 20 million tweets about the election on Tuesday, but now many Twitter users have received an email notification asking them to choose new passwords after an unknown website or online service compromised some accounts. A few high-profile users, including TechCrunch, were affected.

Once users reset their Twitter passwords, naturally, they took to the Twitterverse to complain about having to do it.

"We're committed to keeping Twitter a safe and open community. As part of that commitment, in instances when we believe an account may have been compromised, we reset the password and send an email letting the account owner know this has happened along with information about creating a new password. This is a routine part of our processes to protect our users," Twitter said in a statement on its blog.

When asked if Twitter was hacked or if this was a possible security breach,  Twitter spokeswoman, Carolyn Penner said it was not.

Twitter, however, admitted that it reset more passwords than it should have. "In this case, we unintentionally reset passwords of a larger number of accounts, beyond those that we believed to have been compromised. We apologize for any inconvenience or confusion this may have caused," the company said.

Twitter also encouraged users to read about how to protect their accounts and make their passwords secure. To reset your password, Twitter recommends users type in the link into your browser to reset your password. Often, hackers can access your password by tracing the original link from the notification.

Many argue that Twitter, like Google, should implement stronger security, including two-factor authentication, which, if enabled, forces users to type in two passwords.  "We've certainly explored two-factor authentication among other security measures, and we continue to introduce features, such as https, to help users keep their accounts secure," Twitter told TechCrunch.

Source: http://www.news.theusalinks.com/2012/11/08/twitter-asks-users-to-reset-passwords/