Amazon alerts some users of password change following email leak

By Lulu Chang Published October 9, 2016

amazon discounts third party seller items — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Amazon customer? You might’ve received an email yesterday from the online retail giant about a change to your account settings — specifically, your password. The Seattle-based company recently discovered a list of email addresses and passwords that had been published online, and naturally concluded that some users’ accounts may have been compromised as a result. So the digital seller made the proactive decision to take care of security on behalf of its customers, and then alerted them to the change.

“At Amazon we take your security and privacy very seriously,” the email, whose authenticity was verified by an Amazon spokesperson, began. “As part of our routine monitoring, we discovered a list of email addresses and passwords posted online. While the list was not Amazon-related, we know that many customers reuse their passwords on multiple websites.” This, of course, is cause for concern in and of itself, but Amazon can’t single-handedly address the security problems of the entire online world.

Recommended Videos

“Since we believe your email addresses and passwords were on the list, we have assigned a temporary password to your Amazon.com account out of an abundance of caution,” the email continued.

Users, of course, were not stuck with the password Amazon chose for them — rather, they were then instructed to reset their password upon their next visit to the site. Resetting your password on Amazon simply involves navigating to the “Forgot your password?” tab on the Amazon.com Password Assistance page, whereupon you’ll receive another email with a personalized link to help you pick a new string.

“We recommend that you choose a password that you have never used with any website,” Amazon added (though as the firm itself pointed out earlier, that’s probably not going to happen).

If you want to be extra careful about your Amazon security, the company encourages enabling its own Two-Step Verification, which “requires you to enter a unique security code during sign in” in addition to your password.

So if you’re looking to protect your online shopping addiction, this may just be a good place to start.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…

Computing

How to change margins in Google Docs

Laptop Working from Home

When you create a document in Google Docs, you may need to adjust the space between the edge of the page and the content --- the margins. For instance, many professors have requirements for the margin sizes you must use for college papers.

You can easily change the left, right, top, and bottom margins in Google Docs and have a few different ways to do it.

Computing

What is Microsoft Teams? How to use the collaboration app

A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Online team collaboration is the new norm as companies spread their workforce across the globe. Gone are the days of primarily relying on group emails, as teams can now work together in real time using an instant chat-style interface, no matter where they are.

Using Microsoft Teams affords video conferencing, real-time discussions, document sharing and editing, and more for companies and corporations. It's one of many collaboration tools designed to bring company workers together in an online space. It’s not designed for communicating with family and friends, but for colleagues and clients.

Computing

Microsoft Word vs. Google Docs

A person using a laptop that displays various Microsoft Office apps.

For the last few decades, Microsoft Word has been the de facto standard for word processors across the working world. That's finally starting to shift, and it looks like one of Google's productivity apps is the heir apparent. The company's Google Docs solution (or to be specific, the integrated word processor) is cross-platform and interoperable, automatically syncs, is easily shareable, and perhaps best of all, is free.

However, using Google Docs proves it still has a long way to go before it can match all of Word's features -- Microsoft has been developing its word processor for over 30 years, after all, and millions still use Microsoft Word. Will Google Docs' low barrier to entry and cross-platform functionality win out? Let's break down each word processor in terms of features and capabilities to help you determine which is best for your needs.
How does each word processing program compare?
To put it lightly, Microsoft Word has an incredible advantage over Google Docs in terms of raw technical capability. From relatively humble beginnings in the 1980s, Microsoft has added new tools and options in each successive version. Most of the essential editing tools are available in Google Docs, but users who are used to Word will find it limited.