Yesterday the Twitter accounts of ABC News and Good Morning America were hacked and phony emails were sent out by the hackers appearing to come from ABC News and Good Morning America.  The hacking and the content of the tweets appear to be more of prank than a serious threat, however, the hacking exposes the vulnerability of Twitter if proper precautions are not taken.  The potential for serious attempts to use hacked Twitter accounts of legitimate media to spread fake news represents a substantial threat.

These Twitter account hackings were merely the latest in an increasing number of Twitter account hackings which have included companies, such as McDonald’s, the BBC and Forbes as well as individuals such as John Legend.

TIPS

Protecting your own Twitter account is a relatively simple matter if you follow a few basic rules.  First and foremost you should use a complex password and you should have unique passwords for all of your accounts so that if one account is hacked, the security of your other accounts is not jeopardized.  You can find out how to create a complex password that is easy to remember by going to the Search the Website section of Scamicide using the keywords “strong password.”  You should also use dual factor authentication whereby a one-time code is sent to your smartphone whenever you are going to access your account.  This prevents someone who even has managed to steal your password from getting access to your account.

Additionally, many apps use the Twitter platform so you should be careful before permitting an app to have access to your account.  When giving an app access to your account, use Twitter’s OAuth method which doesn’t require you to provide your Twitter username and password to the third party app.

Finally, keep your security software up to date on all of your electronic devices from which you tweet.