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Twitter urges users to change passwords after computer 'glitch'

reuters.com

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Re: Twitter urges users to change passwords after computer 'glitch'

#91

I haven't actively logged into twitter in almost a year. Does this affect me?

Sounds like you don't value twitter that much, so it wouldn't be the end of the world if it did. Unless you reuse that password for anything, but I'm sure that's not the case. You could always delete the account if you're no longer using it, although your use of the word "actively" makes me think you might be using it for oauth or keeping it for other purposes.

Re: Twitter urges users to change passwords after computer 'glitch'

#92
Changed mine, just logged back in to this warning:

Keeping your account secure When you set a password for your Twitter account, we use technology that masks it so no one at the company can see it. We recently identified a bug that stored passwords unmasked in an internal log. We have fixed the bug, and our investigation shows no indication of breach or misuse by anyone.

Out of an abundance of caution, we ask that you consider changing your password on all services where you’ve used this password. Learn more

Re: Twitter urges users to change passwords after computer 'glitch'

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Technology by legislation" - that's the new trend it seems. How about replacing passwords with something technologically superior instead?

Replacing passwords won’t suddenly alight large companies interests with yours.

... because twitter has an interest in leaking passwords?

Re: Twitter urges users to change passwords after computer 'glitch'

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

~~Sounds more like "we fixed this bug, and will ignore the processes that led to it happening" bullshit to me.~~

And this comment sounds more like "DAE hate twitter." Their response is acceptable and textbook. Doesn't really seem like the appropriate place to wage the battle.

Yeah, bad kneejerk response on my part. Sorry.

Re: Twitter urges users to change passwords after computer 'glitch'

#96
I've seen this scenario unfold before:

  1. User provides username/password.
  2. An exception occurs somewhere.
  3. The stack trace from the exception is logged.
  4. The stack trace includes the credentials.
  5. The exception ends up in a ticketing system (Trac, JIRA, etc.)
  6. Nobody notices for years.

Re: Twitter urges users to change passwords after computer 'glitch'

#97
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty much. Apparently github did something similar and now people are curious about the library/framework. Why is it so obvious that they both used the same library?

my thoughts exactly, wondering what they are all using.

Many of twitter's services use this: https://github.com/twitter/finatra

Re: Twitter urges users to change passwords after computer 'glitch'

#98
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

seriously? pretty easily. somebody probably left a debug log message in place or something. guaranteed that this happens all the time and most people don't report it.

I doubt anyone left something that logged the plaintext password. No reasonable architecture necessitates holding onto a plaintext password for more than one line of code. One possibility is an HTTP server on the request path after TLS termination. But then why is an HTTP server logging the request body? My guess would be some sort of instrumentation process was blindly reading data in memory without distinguishing w…

many reasonable architectures funnel the request body through multiple middlewares before it reaches the code that actually needs the password. there are so many places that request data can be logged in any reasonable system. this is completely ordinary. it's not like there's a special HTTP mechanism for transmitting passwords that keeps it out of the normal code flow. it's in the request. if you log requests, you're probably going to end up accidentally logging something you're not supposed to at some point.

Re: Twitter urges users to change passwords after computer 'glitch'

#99
I highly recommend using a password manager. I finally bit the bullet and started using 1Password a few weeks ago, and I haven't looked back since. It's just so much better than having to remember a thousand different passwords.

Besides securely managing passwords, you can also use a password manager to secure your digital legacy. 1Password has a feature where you can print out "emergency kit" sheets that has the information required to access your password vault. I printed out two of these sheets and gave them to trusted family members in sealed envelopes. In the event that I become incapacitated, they will be able to access my accounts.

Re: Twitter urges users to change passwords after computer 'glitch'

#100

> The glitch was related to Twitter’s use of a technology known as “hashing” that masks passwords as a user enters them by replacing them with numbers and letters, according to the blog. Sigh. They appear to have confused hashing with asterisks. > A bug caused the passwords to be written on an internal computer log before the hashing process was completed, the blog said. So "related" in almost no way whatsoever, then…

The state of technology reporting in the mainstream press really makes me despair sometimes. The problem is that the mainstream press writes for mainstream users, and the state of science/technology understanding in the general public is the real problem.

I hear what you're saying, but I think — in this case — the article's just giving too much irrelevant information. I think most mainstream users I know would understand it if it were written something like:

> A bug caused passwords to be written on an internal computer log, the blog said.

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