Amazon has reset a yet-unknown number of customer accounts’ passwords while citing that passwords may have been exposed to a “third party.”
Online retailer Amazon has force-reset its customer account passwords, as revealed by ZDNet. An unknown number of accounts were privy Amazon’s unscheduled password reset. The online publication added that its readers had emailed ZDNet and the claims were further verified independently. The message was also seemingly sent to several users’ account message center on Amazon.com and the UK-arm at Amazon.co.uk, proving the message’s authenticity.
In the email that Amazon has supposedly sent to affected customers, the retailer noted that it had “recently discovered that your [account] 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.”
The retailer also added:
We have corrected the issue to prevent this exposure.
The retail giant also stated that there was categorically “no reason” to assume the passwords may have been disclosed to third parties. Instead, the action of the temporary reset, according to the company, was made out of an apparent “abundance of caution.”
It is of course not entirely out of the realm for companies to make the quick decision to force-reset account passwords if they believe they have been targeted in a data breach or leak.
It was only last week that Amazon had enabled customers with two-factor authentication, a means to add an extra layer of security for millions of its customers. By enabling two-factor authentication, Amazon finally joined the likes of Facebook, Microsoft, Apple and Twitter in enforcing better security measures. Readers who bank and trade online with their banks and financial institutions will have known about two-factor authentication for years, a security measure that is now seemingly embraced by the mainstream in large-scale adoption.
Related article: Shop Safely During Black Friday and Cyber Monday
The hiccups and advances in security standards for Amazon come during a time when the online shopping industry readies itself for the busiest time of the year with the holiday weekend coming up. If you have your shopping lists ready for Black Friday, be sure to read our safe shopping guide to ensure a safe shopping experience.
