If Facebook and Netflix ask you to reset your password, it's NOT a scam
A NUMBER of popular websites, including Netflix and Facebook, are sending out password reset emails to customers.
If Netflix has asked you to change your password, you should probably heed the warning
If you have received a password reset email from Netflix of Facebook, it's probably not a scam.
The US technology firms are asking customers to change passwords that match with credentials from a previous security breach.
Cybersecurity expert Brian Krebs said some of the largest Silicon Valley firms trawl through data from other sites' breaches to find login details that match their users' accounts.
If there is a match, the website will ask those customers who reused the same password and email combination to change their details.
Netflix announced it was developing a tool to scan leaked details to protect users in 2014
According to Mr Krebs, Netflix has already started to send out password reset prompts to many users have scouring through leaked credentials.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was hacked last week after cyberscammers unearthed his password in the recent dump of stolen LinkedIn passwords.
The 31-year-old multi-billionaire is believed to have used the password "dadada" to login to his Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest accounts.
Mark Zuckerberg was hacked last week after he reused an old password
As always, the best way to ensure you're safe online is to use a unique password for each online account.
That will prevent scammers from reusing the same email and password combination, should your login information for another account leak online.
To create a secure password, take the first letter of each word in your favourite song lyric, phrase or poem and use those letters, which should appear like a random jumble of random characters, as your password.
What is Your Password
A password manager is another way to generate and securely store unique passwords with letters, symbols and numbers.
However even these apps aren't always secure.
The news comes as Google announced plans to kill off passwords by the end of the year.