Twitter resets passwords after hacker threats

Twitter emailed thousands of users warning of phishing attacks, but admitted resetting passwords en masse may have been over the top.

The social media site made users aware of a potential breach of their accounts on Wednesday night, telling account holders their passwords had been reset as a precaution.

"Twitter believes that your account may have been compromised by a website or service not associated with Twitter," said the email.

"We've reset your password to prevent others from accessing your account."

The site acknowledged it may have been over enthusiastic in its response to the alleged threat, coming on one of its busiest ever days after Barack Obama's re-election as U.S. president.

"In instances when we believe an account may have been compromised, we reset the password and send an email letting the account owner know this has happened," Twitter said in its blog .

"In this case, we unintentionally reset passwords of a larger number of accounts, beyond those that we believed to have been compromised."

Technology site Techcrunch bore the brunt of the attack, with attempted hacks using phrases such as "serious gossip", "that video" or "saying bad things (about you)" as lures to a malware site.

Twitter did not reveal how many account passwords were changed however, and also denied a security breach to assure its multi-million users.

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