Social media platform Twitter warned its users that a recent glitch on its system has left passwords vulnerable, and recommended that users change their login details as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
While it recorded no data breach<\/strong> – insisting that the data is safe – the group said that it would err on the side of caution and encourage users to change passwords.<\/p>\n “When you set a password for your Twitter account, we use technology that masks it so no one at the company can see it. We recently identified a bug that stored passwords unmasked in an internal log. We have fixed the bug, and our investigation shows no indication of breach or misuse by anyone.<\/p>\n “Out of an abundance of caution, we ask that you consider changing your password on all services where you\u2019ve used this password,” it said.<\/p>\n According to Twitter, passwords for the platform are masked through a process called “hashing”, which replaces the actual password with a random set of numbers and letters that are stored in Twitter\u2019s system. This allows the system to validate a users’ account credentials without revealing their password.<\/p>\n However, due to a bug, the passwords were written to an internal log before completing the hashing process. This means passwords were available in plain text.<\/p>\n “We found this error ourselves, removed the passwords, and are implementing plans to prevent this bug from happening again,” Twitter said.<\/p>\n Here’s how to change your password<\/strong><\/p>\n The social network advised users to create a strong password, made up of characters in different cases, numbers and symbols – and steer clear of these duds.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n For added security on your account, Twitter also has two-factor authentication, which add another layer of security using SMS, or third-party apps like Authy and Google Authenticator.<\/p>\n\n
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