Following two high-profile hacking incidents in two days, Twitter has decided to offer users of its service a “friendly reminder” regarding password security.
On Monday the Twitter account of fast food giant Burger King was taken over by a hacker or hackers for several hours, enough time for them to post information claiming Burger King had been acquired by rival McDonald’s “because the whopper flopped” and generally make a mess of the entire feed. Then on Tuesday Chrysler’s Jeep Twitter account was briefly taken over, with hackers posting information saying the brand had been bought by Cadillac and that factory production had been suspended. It’s not known if the two incidents are linked.
“Over the past couple of days, there’s been a fair amount of conversation about account security on Twitter,” Bob Lord, the microblogging site’s director of information security, wrote in a post on Tuesday. “We thought we’d take advantage of this moment to remind you of best practices around passwords – both on Twitter and on the Internet generally.”
With Twitter deeming it necessary to issue these guidelines, it makes you wonder just how many notifications it receives of hacked accounts, as it’s only the high-profile cases we ever hear about.
When creating a new password, Lord suggests you make it “at least 10 characters that include upper and lower case characters, numbers, and symbols,” and that “you should always use a unique password for each website you use.” Yes, we know you’ve heard this advice a thousand times before, but are you following it?
He also tells users to look out for suspicious links, to ensure you’re on Twitter.com before entering log-in information, and to refrain from giving your username and password to unknown third parties, “especially those promising to get you followers or make you money.” Ensuring the operating systems of your pc and mobile are up to date is also essential, Lord said in his post.
For DT’s take on the best way to create strong passwords, click here.
