Twitter locks millions of accounts for user security

Twitter has locked millions of users’ accounts following the report that about 33m account details were put for sale on the dark web.   

In a blogpost, Michael Coates, Twitter’s trust and security officer said, ‘In each of the recent password disclosures, we cross-checked the data with our records. As a result, a number of Twitter accounts were identified for extra protection. Accounts with direct password exposure were locked and require a password reset by the account owner.’

Earlier this week, reports from LeakSource surfaced that a hacker named Tessa88 claims that he has managed to slip through and obtain usernames and passwords of Twitter users to the tune of 32 million accounts, and was asking for 10 bitcons  (approximately Rs 3,92,220) to access them.

However, Michael Coates said, ‘We are confident the information was not obtained from a hack of Twitter’s account.’

Coates suggested that the database of the records could have been created using information from other breaches or from password stealing malware on user machines.

Twitter did not disclose how many users were affected.

Now, Twitter users are being advised to use strong passwords and two-factor authentication, which requires verification of login attempts using SMS or Twitter app notifications, to help users protect their accounts.