Firefox users accessing Twitter may have had private messages stored longer than they thought due to a significant bug.
In a blog post, the social networking giant explained that its platform stored private files inside of Firefox’s cache, saying:
“We recently learned that the way Mozilla Firefox stores cached data may have resulted in non-public information being inadvertently stored in the browser’s cache. This means that if you accessed Twitter from a shared or public computer via Mozilla Firefox and took actions like downloading your Twitter data archive or sending or receiving media via Direct Message, this information may have been stored in the browser’s cache even after you logged out of Twitter.”
While the bug does not affect those who accessed Twitter via Firefox from their own devices, those who did so on shared or public computers could have their files accessed by others even after logging out of the service.
Cached data
The files from Twitter that were stored in Firefox’s cache include files sent or received from direct messages, data archive files downloaded from a profile’s settings page and others.
Thankfully though the bug’s impact is limited as Firefox automatically purges all of the cached data stored in its browser after seven days.
However, you can also clear the cache manually by going to Tools, Options, Privacy & Security, Cookie and Site Data, Clear Data in the browser.
Twitter has now fixed this bug in order to prevent its platform from caching non-public information and the company also said that the bug does not affect those using Chrome, Safari or other browsers.
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Via ZDNet
