Jack Dorsey's account was hacked: Smart tips to secure your Twitter profile
These tips will help you avoid losing control of your Twitter account.
By Glynda Alves, ET Bureau |
Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter’s account on Twitter got hacked by the group ‘Chuckle Squad’, a rogue group of hackers. This was not a tweet surprise. If Dorsey’s account can get hacked, well, you’re not going to fare much better.
In a successful SIM swap attack, hackers persuade a mobile phone provider to transfer a victim’s phone number to the hacker’s SIM card, giving the hacker access to the victim’s calls and messages.
To avoid losing control of your Twitter account, Sunil Sharma, MD Sales, Sophos India & SAARC on how to secure your Twitter account. And lucky for you, it’s quite a simple procedure to stay safe and secure online.
1. Enable two-factor authentication (2FA)
Having a strong, unique password is an important first step to securing your account, but passwords can be easily guessed or generated by an attacker, so by themselves they’re not enough to stop someone in their tracks. Your best bet to keep someone out of your account is to also enable two-factor authentication, which means you’ll need a second factor – like a numerical code or physical key – to prove it’s you when you log in to your account.
How to do it: To enable 2FA on your Twitter account, log in and click your profile icon, then go to Settings and privacy. Scroll down to Login verification, which is what Twitter calls two-factor authentication. Twitter begins the setup with a text message (SMS) code, but once you have 2FA set up you have the option to stick with an SMS code, use a physical security key, or use a mobile authenticator app. Many people prefer to use SMS as it’s easiest, but this method has its own security flaws, so we recommend using an authenticator app on your phone.
Twitter is great as a big, open platform where anyone can join in the conversation. But that openness can also be a bit of a pain, as harassers and crooks love the platform’s openness too. You can opt to only allow people you have opted in to follow to send you a direct message (a private message that does not have a character limit, unlike standard tweets), and you can also opt to enable quality filters on regular tweets that you receive, so tweets by profiles of “low quality” will never reach you.
How to do it: To only allow people you follow to send you a direct message, go to Settings and select Privacy and safety from the left-hand menu, and then deselect Receive direct messages from anyone. To enable the Twitter quality filters, go to your Settings and select Notifications from the left-hand menu. Under Advanced, select Quality filter.
3. Check your connected apps
Do you remember which apps you’ve authorized to have full access to your Twitter account? It’s painlessly easy to sign up to a service using Twitter, but how long do you want that service to have that kind of access? It’s worth reviewing your connected apps to see what’s still lingering in there, and if you see something you don’t remember authorizing or haven’t used in a while, it’s time to revoke its permission to your account.
4. The nuclear option: protect your tweets
While the idea behind Twitter is that the conversation is public and open to everyone, you can opt to protect your account, which makes your tweets visible only to people that you’ve opted to follow.
How to do it: In Settings, select Privacy and safety. Under Tweet privacy check Protect your Tweets. (You can always un-protect your tweets and make your tweets public if you ever change your mind!)
In a successful SIM swap attack, hackers persuade a mobile phone provider to transfer a victim’s phone number to the hacker’s SIM card, giving the hacker access to the victim’s calls and messages.
To avoid losing control of your Twitter account, Sunil Sharma, MD Sales, Sophos India & SAARC on how to secure your Twitter account. And lucky for you, it’s quite a simple procedure to stay safe and secure online.
1. Enable two-factor authentication (2FA)
Having a strong, unique password is an important first step to securing your account, but passwords can be easily guessed or generated by an attacker, so by themselves they’re not enough to stop someone in their tracks. Your best bet to keep someone out of your account is to also enable two-factor authentication, which means you’ll need a second factor – like a numerical code or physical key – to prove it’s you when you log in to your account.
How to do it: To enable 2FA on your Twitter account, log in and click your profile icon, then go to Settings and privacy. Scroll down to Login verification, which is what Twitter calls two-factor authentication. Twitter begins the setup with a text message (SMS) code, but once you have 2FA set up you have the option to stick with an SMS code, use a physical security key, or use a mobile authenticator app. Many people prefer to use SMS as it’s easiest, but this method has its own security flaws, so we recommend using an authenticator app on your phone.
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2. Screen who can contact youTwitter is great as a big, open platform where anyone can join in the conversation. But that openness can also be a bit of a pain, as harassers and crooks love the platform’s openness too. You can opt to only allow people you have opted in to follow to send you a direct message (a private message that does not have a character limit, unlike standard tweets), and you can also opt to enable quality filters on regular tweets that you receive, so tweets by profiles of “low quality” will never reach you.
How to do it: To only allow people you follow to send you a direct message, go to Settings and select Privacy and safety from the left-hand menu, and then deselect Receive direct messages from anyone. To enable the Twitter quality filters, go to your Settings and select Notifications from the left-hand menu. Under Advanced, select Quality filter.
3. Check your connected apps
Do you remember which apps you’ve authorized to have full access to your Twitter account? It’s painlessly easy to sign up to a service using Twitter, but how long do you want that service to have that kind of access? It’s worth reviewing your connected apps to see what’s still lingering in there, and if you see something you don’t remember authorizing or haven’t used in a while, it’s time to revoke its permission to your account.
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How to do it: In your Settings, select Apps and devices from the menu and take a look at the apps that are listed as connected to your account. Hitfor any app that you no longer need or want.4. The nuclear option: protect your tweets
While the idea behind Twitter is that the conversation is public and open to everyone, you can opt to protect your account, which makes your tweets visible only to people that you’ve opted to follow.
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How to do it: In Settings, select Privacy and safety. Under Tweet privacy check Protect your Tweets. (You can always un-protect your tweets and make your tweets public if you ever change your mind!)
It seems counter intuitive – after all, social media helps you share your opinions and speak to a larger audience. But thanks to rampant identity theft and online stalking, there is a solid argument to be made to target your social posts instead of keeping them public. Karan Bajaj shows you how.
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