Possible Phishing Attack Forces Twitter to Ask Users to Change Passwords

Twitter is reportedly asking many of its users to change their passwords this morning due to a possible phishing attack affecting the micro-blogging service. Some users, with perhaps compromised accounts, are even reporting being locked out of the system and not allowed in until they changed their password.

It appears that many of these users who have been locked out are also receiving an email asking them to reset their passwords. Some even believed the message itself could be a phishing attack, though it appears to be 100% genuinely legit.

Here’s what the actual email said:

Due to concern that your account may have been compromised in a phishing attack that took place off-Twitter, your password was reset. Please create a new password by opening this link in your browser:
[PASSWORD RESET LINK].

As a reminder, you should be extraordinarily suspicious of any third party that offers to artificially inflate your follower count. We do not endorse any of these sites.

We are waiting for Twitter to release a public statement regarding the issue. We will update this article accordingly. In the meantime, you might want to change your password as soon as possible. Specially if you are following @THCx, as many affected users report to be following this account all of a sudden. @THCx has apparently managed to gain access to a large number of accounts. So it might just be responsible for the attack, though this is not confirmed at the moment.

More as we learn more.

Update: Twitter has released a statement regarding the issue.

[ via TechCrunch ]