Detailed within a post on the official Twitter blog, developers at the social network have added two new features that are both designed to increase the security of accounts. First, the new notification feature will fire off an email if Twitter detects suspicious activity when an account is accessed. According to the development team, Twitter looks at login history, location of the login and the device being used to access the account. To combat this, Twitter has added an identity verification step that should halt access of the account if the authorized user only has a password on hand.
In addition, Twitter will send an email to the owner of the account when suspicious activity has been detected. This should help reduce the number of accounts that get hijacked every day in order to send out spam filled tweets or private messages.
Twitter specifically rolled out this new feature due to the fact that many people reuse the same password around the Web. If a site outside of Twitter is hacked, that could put your Twitter account in jeopardy if the same password is used.
Beyond the suspicious login feature, Twitter has also added another way to reset your account. Designed to increase the speed at which you reset your account on mobile devices, you can now choose to text a code to your mobile phone in order to reset a password. This can be particularly ideal if you on the road and don’t have access to a Web interface to reset the password. In addition to the new reset option, Twitter has added a number of customized tips to help you create a more secure password.
