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All Twitter Passwords Exposed, Change Your Password Now

By May 17, 2018June 8th, 2022Cybersecurity

Twitter shot itself in the foot recently but is working hard to get out in front of the problem.  According to a recent blog post, the company experienced an issue with its hashing routine – a process which masks user passwords, making them virtually impossible to crack.

Because of the issue, user passwords were stored as plain text on an internal log file.  The company found the bug on its own, conducted an investigation and found no evidence that anyone discovered the log file and appropriated it.  Although they gave no indication as to how many user passwords the log file contained, they nonetheless urged all of their 330+ million users to change their passwords immediately as a safety precaution.

This could have been far worse for the company, had the log been discovered by a diligent security researcher, or worse still, by a hacker.  Even so, it’s a fairly damaging bit of news that’s sure to cause at least some lost trust with its growing user base.

If you use Twitter, you should definitely take the company’s recommendation to heart and change your password immediately.  As ever, when you do, the best thing you can do to help yourself is to be sure you’re not using the same password on Twitter as you use on other websites you frequent.  That way, even if your password is compromised, the damage will be limited to your Twitter account only.

An even better solution would be to use a password safe, which securely stores the passwords of the various sites you frequent. Although even this step doesn’t provide bullet-proof protection, as password safes are by no means immune to hacking.

Diligence and vigilance are once again the keys.  Keep your passwords secure and change them often.

Jason Manteiga

Jason J. Manteiga, Vice President of Olmec Systems, has been part of the company for over the past 20 years. He believes that having a great work environment and supportive team, is the ultimate key to success. Since being in the IT realm for over 25 years, Jason, along with Olmec Systems, has been on the Inc. 5000 “List of America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies” and Channel Futures MSP 501 “Top Managed Service Providers in North America,” along with other awards and nominations. Jason earned his Bachelor Degree in Information Systems from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He also holds certifications in Microsoft MCSE, VMWare VCP, and Cisco CCNA. In his spare time, Jason is a contributor for The Center for Social & Legal Research (Privacy Exchange) and a member of the Morris County Chamber of Commerce. His hobbies include cycling and kayaking. He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife, two daughters and son.