James Delahunty
2 Feb 2013 0:17
Micro-blogging giant advises concerned users.
This year seems to have gotten off to a worrying start in the realm of cybersecurity, with the New York Time and the Wall Street Journal confirming they have been targeted by overseas hackers. On top of that, serious woes about Java security have prompted browser maker Mozilla, and Apple Inc., to disable Java in their browsers by default.
The latest scare making the headlines is the confirmation from Twitter that around 250,000 of its users have been affected by an attack on the service. Specifically, Twitter has revealed that attackers have gained access to limited users information - such as usernames, email addresses, session tokens and encrypted/salted versions of passwords - associated with the quarter of a million affected accounts.
The service has reset the passwords of all the affected accounts, and revoked session tokens, as a precautionary measure. If you have been affected by the attack, then you will receive an e-mail from Twitter to the address associated with your account, and will need to set a new password as your older password will no longer work.