Twitter was hacked again yesterday sending the stock market tumbling! The Associated Press Twitter feed was compromised and someone tweeted there were explosions at the White House. Here's the story from the New York Times.
In Hacking, A.P. Twitter Feed Sends False Report of Explosions …
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.comTue, 23 Apr 2013 17:57:07 GMT
The episodes raise questions about the security of social media passwords and the ease of access to brand-name accounts. Logging on to Twitter requires the same process for a company as for a consumer — just a user …
When was the last time you changed your Twitter password? Change your password now because bots are constantly scanning Twitter trying to crack your password.
Twitter is notorious for allowing easy to crack passwords and the number of successful account breakins is increasing. Many celebrities have had their accounts compromised and over 250,000 Twitter users had to change their passwords in February.
Just because Twitter allows you to use simple passwords doesn't mean you should use an obvious password. Here are some password best practices from Twitter.
https://support.twitter.com/articles/76036-keeping-your-account-secure
Some simple tips include:
- Don't use common words found in a dictionary
- Don't use the names of your children or pets
- Don't use your birthday or social security number
- Don't use sequences like “abcd1234” or “qwert”
Your password should:
- Be at least 10 characters with a combination of uppercase, lowercase, numbers and symbols. I know you are thinking you'll never rememer a long, complicated password but once you enter it into your phone or computer, you rarely have to retype it.
- Change your password occassionally. Your Twitter account password isn't as important as your bank account password but it does connect with many other apps when you allow it letting hackers into the back door of many accounts.
- Follow the Twitter guidelines for a secure password or search Google for “password best practices” to learn more about password security.
One more thing you should do periodically is to log into your Twitter account and see which apps you have authorized to use your Twitter account. Go to https://twitter.com/settings/applications and you may be surprised to see how many third party apps you've authorized. If you don't recognize the apps, Revoke Access immediately.
To learn more about Twitter security, check out my new book Ultimate Guide to Twitter for Business now and to stay updated subscribe to my blog here.
