After the discovery of a potential data breach, online retail giant Amazon has reportedly implemented the resetting of user passwords for some of its customer accounts.
The development came into light after several Amazon users reported that they have received emails from the site advising them that their passwords have been reset. The email warned receiving users that their passwords may have been "improperly stored on [user] device or transmitted to Amazon", which could compromise and potentially expose these to third parties, Business Insider reported.
Amazon's email added that while they were confident that the passwords were in any exposed to said third parties, the company decided to reset these and issue temporary passwords to affected users. The site then instructed users on how to reset to a new password, adding that they should not reuse the same one as before.
While it did not identify how many users were affected by the problem, Amazon assured its customers that it is currently working on a solution to prevent the issue from occurring again.
The incident came in just a week after the company rolled out two-factor authentication for its customers. In the new security feature, users are required to verify their identity using a unique code sent to their mobile devices. The setup is said to prevent third parties from getting into user accounts even if they have the email address and password.
This was not the first time Amazon had issued a forced password reset. In 2010, the site also ordered a password reset for its customers following the Gawker hacking incident, where millions of passwords were released online, ZDNet reported