SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Yet another security outfit is reporting that millions of stolen passwords – this time, for Twitter accounts – are floating around the dark side of the internet. Should you be worried?
In truth, it’s hard to say. And that’s rapidly emerging as the latest dilemma of digital life.
The website LeakedSource said it received a cache of Twitter data that contains 32 million records, including passwords. Twitter said that its systems haven’t been breached. LeakedSource said the passwords were most likely collected over time by malware-infected browsers that sent saved passwords to hackers.
Twitter said it’s taking the disclosure seriously. “We’ve been working to help keep accounts protected by checking our data against what’s been shared from recent other password leaks,” the company said in a statement.
So while 32 million is a big number, it’s not itself a reason to panic. This particular data set contains a large number of credentials associated with Russian email addresses, suggesting that the malware may have been most prevalent there. In addition, many of these passwords are old and possibly no longer current. The LeakedSource website will let you check to see if your logic credentials were included.