Twitter Urges Users to Change Passwords with Immediate Effect

Twitter Urges Users to Change Passwords with Immediate Effect

Twitter Inc urged its more than 330 million users to change their passwords after a glitch caused some of them to be stored in plain text on its internal computer system.

The social network said it had fixed the glitch and that an internal investigation had found no indication passwords were stolen or misused by insiders, but it urged all users to consider changing their passwords “out of an abundance of caution.”

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The blog did not say how many passwords were affected. But a person familiar with the company’s response said the number was “substantial” and that they were exposed for “several months.”

Twitter discovered the bug a few weeks ago and has reported it to some regulators, said the person, who was not authorized to discuss the matter.

The disclosure comes as lawmakers and regulators around the world scrutinize the way that companies store and secure consumer data, after a string of security incidents that have come to light at firms including Equifax Inc, Facebook Inc and Uber.