The Easy Way Twitter Could Stop Accounts Being Hacked

The Easy Way Twitter Could Stop Accounts Being Hacked


Twitter accounts are getting hacked left and right. Today it was Burger King. Before that, it was the Westboro Baptist Church. And before that it was Gizmodo US and Mat Honan. Hacks will always happen, but this is dumb because Twitter could make this all go away. Forever. All we need is two-factor authentication, and it’s insane we haven’t gotten it yet.

Twitter is fun, and plenty of us go there to goof around, but it’s not all fun and games. Twitter has been the platform for all kinds of breaking news. It’s home to all manner of verified personalities, organisations, news outlets and companies. In many ways, it’s become the defacto town square of the internet, where news, opinion and conversation spread like wild-fire.

But all that’s worthless if people keep getting hacked.

Today, it was public, and obscene, and — let’s face it — damned funny. It usually is. But these are still breeches of security, and someone with goals more nefarious than “the lulz” could stir up something serious with a good hacked account and some patience. But the worst part, the worst worst part, is that two-step verification is a quick and easy fix to all this. So where the hell is it?

Google has it. Amazon has it. Dropbox has it. Everybody should be on this list, but Twitter’s absence is particularly glaring, especially after so many high-profile hacks. Sure, there’s a rumour it’s in the works, but yesterday wouldn’t be soon enough, and so fair they don’t want to talk about it. We’ve reached out for comment to see if they’ve changed their tune. Twitter talks a big game about security, but it’s time to follow through:

At Twitter, we value your online security as much as you do. Our team works constantly to protect the security of your account, and takes steps every day to provide a secure Twitter experience for our users.

Yeah? Then let’s pick up the pace, guys. Let’s step into the present.


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