Twitter says it mistakenly reset the passwords of some users as part of a routine security check-up.

Thursday's mix-up triggered warnings on technology blogs and in tweets that the online messaging service had been attacked by
computer hackers.

Twitter sought to clear up the confusion with a post on its website a few hours after it sent out emails alerting some users that their accounts had been compromised. Twitter says its security specialists had reset a larger number of passwords than they
intended.

Despite the mistake, Twitter says only a very small percentage of its more than 140 million users had their passwords affected.

One of the affected accounts was @newstalk1010, but it's once again in secure hands. 

Twitter, which is based in San Francisco, regularly resets the passwords of accounts believed to have been infiltrated by hackers
or suspicious websites.