Amazon Resets An Unknown Number Of Passwords Due To Leak

Amazon Resets An Unknown Number Of Passwords Due To Leak

If you received an email from Amazon today saying your password has been reset, you’re not the only one. ZDNet is reporting that a number of people were notified by Amazon that their password has been reset due to unidentified reasons.

Based on emails from a number of ZDNet readers it sounds like Amazon’s taking a precautionary approach to a possible leak. Amazon’s not saying exactly what the issue was and hasn’t responded to media requests, but ZDNet says the emails clarify that Amazon has no reason to think a third party got their hands on any passwords:

In the email, Amazon said it “recently discovered that your [Amazon] password may have been improperly stored on your device or transmitted to Amazon in a way that could potentially expose it to a third party.”

It adds: “We have corrected the issue to prevent this exposure.” The email said it has “no reason” to believe passwords were improperly disclosed to a third party but issued a temporary password out of an “abundance of caution.”

So, if you got that email, be sure to change your password now. If you didn’t and you use a password manager, now’s probably as good a time as any to change your Amazon password just to stay on the safe side (and make sure that password isn’t used elsewhere). With all that holiday shopping going on this week, now’s also an especially good time to enable Amazon’s new two-step authentication.

Amazon force-resets some account passwords, citing password leak [ZDNet]


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