With the spate of Twitter hacks popping up in the news recently — including a vulnerability which exposed the usernames, email addresses and encrypted passwords of 250 000 users earlier this year — it’s no wonder Twitter is looking for ways to beef up its security before another high-profile account becomes a victim. And it seems like the company is finally getting somewhere.
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According to Wired‘s sources, the social network is currently testing a two-factor authentication system internally, ahead of an incremental roll out to its users. The report comes two months after Twitter posted a job ad looking for security-focused software engineer with experience in multifactor authentication to help with ensuring “a more secure platform and user experience.”
Two factor authentication would add an extra layer of security to the often flimsy and recycled passwords created by Twitter users. For example, Twitter could require that you log in with the correct password on a recognised device, which you can only authenticate after entering a once-off password sent to the cellphone number associated with your Twitter account. It’s not an unbreakable level of security, but it means that a potential hacker would have to steal your phone or computer as well as your Twitter password to gain access to your account.
As Wired points out, the fact that many Twitter accounts are run for brands, whose employees use a variety of devices and third-party applications to manage them, could make it a bit more complicated for those users than it would be to enable the extra security function for an individual account.
Two factor authentication is a system that’s already offered on Google, Facebook and Microsoft accounts, and one which could have saved Twitter users many headaches — from the recent hack of a North Korean new site’s social accounts to the fake posts issued by the AP’s account. In the latter’s case, a hacker gained access to the news organisation’s account and sent a made up tweet about an explosion at the White House that had injured President Obama, which sent the stock exchange into a brief nose dive before the vulnerability was sorted out.
