Government wants you to secure your Twitter account, here’s how you can do it – Times of India

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) under the IT ministry has issued a new advisory for Twitter users. In the advisory, the CERT-In has asked users to secure their Twitter accounts. “In the recent past, scammers have hijacked Twitter accounts with a large number of followers using stolen credentials and tweeted scam links. Attackers can also disclose account information of Twitter users as part of hacktivist campaigns and upload email contents, Database dumps and other sensitive information through Twitter handles.” the advisory read.
Ways to secure your Twitter account
In the advisory, the CERT-In has mentioned a few practices that you can use to secure your Twitter account. The following are the practices advised by the government.
Use strong account specific password
You should create a long and a strong password for your Twitter account and you should also make sure that the same password isn’t used anywhere else. A strong password includes uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols. You can also use password management softwares to keep all your login information securely. A password should not contain personal information( phone number, date of birth etc.,), common dictionary words and sequences (1234, abc, etc.).
Use two factor authentication
Two-factor authentication is an extra layer of security for a Twitter account. You can use an additional password to enhance the authentication security. You can enable this feature in the Security settings. After this feature is enabled, you will need a password, along with a secondary login method — either a code or a login confirmation via an app to log in to the Twitter account.
Beware of phishing
Attackers try to access private information using tweets, emails & direct messages on Twitter. Beware of suspicious links and always exercise caution while entering login information.
Beware of social engineering techniques
Never give username and password out to third parties, especially those promising to get followers or monetary benefits.
Use Twitter on secure devices
You should make sure that your Twitter is accessed from secure devices that you often use or are owned by you (Computer, Mobile, phones, tablets etc.) You should also make sure your device is updated with the most recent software upgrades and anti-virus software.
Review alerts from Twitter
When you log into a Twitter account from a new device for the first time, Twitter will send a push notification or email to the user as an extra layer of security for your account. Any time the email address associated with your Twitter account is changed, Twitter will send notification to the previously-used email address on the account. In the event of account compromise, these alerts will help you to take steps to regain control of the account.