Why Twitter is urging its 330 million users to change their passwords

Twitter Inc urged its more than 330 million users to change their passwords after a glitch caused some of them to be stored in plain text on its internal computer system.

Stock photograph of the social networking site Twitter displayed on a hand held mobile phone., Friday, Feb. 14, 2014. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt) NO ARCHIVING Source: AAP

The social network said it had fixed the glitch and that an internal investigation had found no indication passwords were stolen or misused by insiders, but it urged all users to consider changing their passwords "out of an abundance of caution."

The blog did not say how many passwords were affected. But a person familiar with the company's response said the number was "substantial" and that they were exposed for "several months."

Twitter discovered the bug a few weeks ago and has reported it to some regulators, said the person, who was not authorised to discuss the matter.

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