Twitter has added extra security measures for its accounts and now’s a
good time to take a couple of minutes and cut your chances of falling
victim to a Twitter hack.
The social network announced Wednesday that it was joining the ranks
of Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple by adding what’s called
two-factor authentication, which requires users to put in a second code
along with their username and password.
It’s true that adding this extra layer of security can be a bit
inconvenient, particularly if you don’t always have your mobile phone
out when you’re signing into Twitter. But it also means casual hackers
won’t be able to get into your account even if they know your password —
and that you’ll get a heads-up if someone else is trying to log into
your account.
Given how embarrassing Twitter hacks can be for individuals and
organizations, it makes good sense to give up a little bit of
convenience for an extra layer of security. It’s better to have to reach
for your phone whenever you log in than have to clean up your online
reputation later.
To turn on the security feature, users can head to their Twitter
settings page and scroll down to the section called “account security”
to click the box next to “required a verification code when I sign in.”
For the feature to work properly, users should also add their telephone
numbers to their Twitter accounts so that the company can text them
their log-in codes when needed. Once your phone is connected, you should
get a text message from Twitter with a changing six-digit code every
time you sign into Twitter.com.
If you use a lot of Twitter applications, such as the mobile iOS app
or Twitter managers like HootSuite, the company said that your apps
should continue working as normal. If you need to add another
application, you’ll need to sign in to Twitter first and head to the
“Apps” section of your settings to generate a special password for that
particular app.
As a sidenote, you should make sure you read through all the settings
on the mobile section of Twitter’s settings panel as well, to make sure
you’re getting the mobile alerts you want — and skipping the ones you
don’t.
Finally, even though the extra security is nice, it isn't foolproof.
You should still have a strong Twitter password (no “password123,”
please) and be wary of suspicious links in tweets and direct messages
Via : GulfTimes
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