Twitter locks user accounts that need 'extra protection' - CNET

Better safe than sorry, or so goes Twitter's latest thinking.

The social network on Friday maintained it was not the victim of a hack or data breach, as previously reported. But Michael Coates, Twitter's head of information security, wrote in a blog post that the company has identified some accounts that need "extra protection." Those accounts have been locked, requiring users to reset their passwords in order to access them.

"If your information was impacted by any of the recent issues -- because of password disclosures from other companies or the leak on the 'dark web' -- then you have already received an email that your account password must be reset," he wrote. " Your account won't be accessible until you do so."

Twitter did not disclose how many users were contacted to change their passwords.

The latest post from the social network comes three days after a Russian hacker who goes by the name Tessa88 claimed to be in possession of a cache containing email addresses, passwords and useames of 379 million Twitter accounts. The seller reportedly had links to the recent breaches of LinkedIn and MySpace. It's unclear how the hacker came in possession of the information.