Technical error exposes Amazon users' names, email addresses

Amazon said Wednesday it accidentally disclosed some of its users' email addresses and names, but has since patched up the problem.

"We have fixed the issue and informed customers who may have been impacted," an Amazon spokesman said in a statement.

It said the information was shared inadvertently due a technical error, and its website and systems were not breached.

The company sent out emails to users affected to let them know what happened. In the email, it also told customers they won't need to change their passwords or take any other action. 

However, Amazon didn't say how many accounts were impacted or where the email addresses were disclosed. 

The disclosure comes at an especially problematic time for Amazon, since it's about to go through the busiest time of the retail year, starting with Thanksgiving then going into Cyber Monday.

This is also the second time in as many months that Amazon has had to inform customers about their email addresses being exposed. Last month, an Amazon employee was fired after sharing customers' email addresses with an unnamed third-party seller, in violation of company policies.