As many as 250,000 Twitter accounts have been hacked and compromised, according to Twitter. According to Twitter, the attack “was not the work of amateurs,” in fact, says Twitter, “the attackers were extremely sophisticated.” Twitter users whose accounts were compromised in the attack have been sent the following email, advising them to change their password.
Dear Twitter User:As a precautionary security measure, we have reset your Twitter account password. Check your inbox for a separate email from Twitter with instructions on how to reset your password. If you don’t see an email, you can go to this page in our Help Center to request a password reset. More information is below.
We recently detected an attack on our systems in which the attackers may have had access to limited user information – specifically, your username, email address and an encrypted/salted version of your password (not the actual letters and numbers in your password). Further information about the attack can be found in this blog post.
Since your password has been reset, your old password will not work when you try to log into Twitter. We strongly encourage you to take this opportunity to select a strong password – at least 10 (but more is better) characters and a mixture of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols – that you are not using for any other accounts or sites. Using the same password for multiple online accounts significantly increases your odds of being compromised.
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For more information about making your Twitter and other Internet accounts more secure, read our Help Center documentation or the FTC’s guide on passwords.
This attack was not the work of amateurs, and we do not believe it was an isolated incident. The attackers were extremely sophisticated, and we believe other companies and organizations have also been recently similarly attacked. For that reason we felt that it was important to reset your password and publicize this attack while we still gather information. We are also helping government and federal law enforcement in their effort to find and prosecute these attackers to make the Internet safer for all users.
The Internet Patrol is completely free, and reader-supported. Your tips via CashApp, Venmo, or Paypal are appreciated! Receipts will come from ISIPP.