Skip to main content

Twitter urges its users to change their passwords due to a bug

vdovichenko/123RF

Twitter is urging its users to change their passwords following a bug that was identified on the social media platform. While the bug has since been fixed, the company assures users there were no signs of breach or misuse of the passwords by anyone.

Recommended Videos

In an effort to establish complete transparency, Twitter Chief Technical Officer Parag Agrawal took to Twitter’s blog to explain exactly what happened. When setting a password on your Twitter account, the platform uses technology that masks it so that no one else at the company can see it.

Twitter’s passwords are masked through a process called hashtag that uses a function known as bcrypt. This means that the passwords are replaced with a random set of numbers and letters stored within Twitter’s system. That way, the company can validate your account without giving away your password.

But due to the bug, passwords were written to an internal log before the hashtag process was completed — leaving them exposed. Twitter found the bug, removed the passwords from the log, and are planning ways to prevent this from occurring in the future.

While the company hasn’t found evidence the password information left Twitter’s systems, or was taken by anyone, it still recommends users to take the necessary precautions. Knowing its system can be accessed by its employees, it’s definitely best to change your password just in case.

When we opened our Twitter app, we were greeted by a notification briefly explaining news of the bug. We then had the option to either skip or go to our settings instead. This then allowed us to easily change and update our password — but you have to remember your old one, too.

If you choose to change your password later, swipe to the right on your app, tap Settings and privacy > Account > Change password, and type in your new password. Once you tap done, your password will automatically update.

For those that use the same password on a variety of services, Twitter recommends changing your password on those platforms as well. Other tips include using a password manager to make sure it’s unique and strong.

For an extra layer of protection, you can also enable login verification — also known as two-factor authentication. To toggle it on, go to Settings and privacy > Account > Security. Every time you log into your Twitter account, you will also be prompted to enter a code that will be sent to your phone.

Brenda Stolyar
Former Staff Writer, Mobile
Brenda became obsessed with technology after receiving her first Dell computer from her grandpa in the second grade. While…
Mobile-based free VR tool is helping people beat speech anxiety
Person wearing a VR kit for speech training.

Virtual Reality was once considered a niche for video games, but over the years, it has found application in many areas. From finding a place in medical education and paving the way for immersive concerts to helping teens and adults deal with psychological distress, the applications of VR are now an ever-expanding domain.
The latest VR innovation comes from the University of Cambridge, and it aims to help people overcome speech anxiety and the fear of public speaking. The institution’s Immersive Technology Lab has launched a free VR training platform that focuses on accessibility and provides expert-curated course material.
Terrified of public speaking? This Cambridge VR solution could eliminate your fear
To that end, the team has created a system that doesn’t necessarily rely on an expensive VR headset. Instead, all it needs is the smartphone in your pocket to provide an immersive experience, fitted atop a mounting kit that can cost as little as $20 a pop.
The training material, on the other hand, is freely available via a website to anyone across the world. Moreover, it is also one of the first products of its kind with a dual-compatible VR player architecture, which means it works just fine with iPhones and Android devices.

“The platform has been built in such a way that whether a participant is using the latest standalone VR headset or an old smartphone inserted into a device mount, they will get the same content and the same experience,” says the team.
The idea is not too different from the Google Cardboard, which cost $15 roughly a decade ago and offered a low-cost route to experiencing VR content by using one’s smartphone. But unlike Google’s approach, we have now entered a market phase where “converter kits” are a lot more polished and use higher quality materials.

Read more
EU iPhone users are getting another exclusive perk with iOS 18.4
Installing iOS 18.3 update on an iPhone 16 Pro.

The iOS 18.4 update is in beta right now, and it introduces a new option for users in the EU to set a default navigation app. This means no more pesky links opening in Apple Maps when you only use Google Maps -- but it won't be available for people in the U.S.

The EU's Digital Markets Act is forcing Apple to make various changes to its services, but unfortunately not all of these perks make it over to the U.S. Apple has made it clear that it doesn't agree with a lot of the rules the EU is setting, so a lot of the time, it only makes the changes when and where it absolutely has to.

Read more
Chrome tab groups now allow mobile-desktop sync, and it’s utter chaos
Synced tab groups from Chrome appearing on an iPhone.

In September last year, Google announced a new feature that would let users sync their grouped tabs across mobile and desktop. It seems the company quietly started rolling it out in a phased manner.

I noticed the new synced tab group feature on my OnePlus 13 earlier today, after the Chrome v133 update was installed on February 12, as per the Google Play logs.

Read more