Amazon has forced an unknown number of account holders to change passwords that may have been compromised, just as it heads into one of the busied shopping days of the year.
Tech news site ZDNet first noted the issue after multiple readers reported receiving email saying that the online retailer had reset their passwords. They were also notified of the change through the site’s account message center, ZDNet reported, which confirmed their legitimacy.
The email sent to affected users said that the company had “recently discovered that your (Amazon) 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,” according to ZDNet. The messages said there was “no reason” to believe passwords were actually revealed to a third party and it was taking action out of “an abundance of caution.”
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
