You probably have asked yourself at one time or another: What can I do to secure my Twitter account?
Making a few changes to your online habits may help protect your social media accounts from malicious attacks.
This way, you will secure your account against the most common social networking scams, preventing hackers from stealing your personal information or impersonating you online.
6 tips to help you protect your Twitter account
1. Use a strong password
Yes, it is much easier to remember a password if you use your birth date, your name or the last four digits of your phone number. However, have you ever realized that those passwords are also easier to guess by hackers? The same applies to passwords such as 1111, 1234 or 9876. These types of common numerical sequences should always be avoided. Our recommendation? Use a mix of upper case letters, lower case letters, numbers and special symbols. This way you’ll make it much harder for hackers to access your Twitter account.
2. Log out of active sessions
If you connect to your social media account on a public computer, remember to log out when you are finished using it. It is an easy and highly effective step to protect your privacy.
3. Pay attention to DMs
The most common way of infecting a Twitter account is via direct message (DM). To avoid falling into that trap, the first thing you have to do is never open a message from an unknown sender. If the message claims to come from a friend, check its content first. Pay special attention to shortened URLs as they don’t indicate what type of website they are taking you to.
4. Conspicuous behaviour of your contacts
If, for example, one of your contacts starts tweeting in a foreign language, sending strange direct messages or acting weird, let them know immediately and suggest that they follow the aforementioned tips.
5. What to do if your account has been compromised
If your account has been compromised, the first thing you should do is change your password. Then, check the apps that have access to it and make sure they are all trusted. Sometimes, apps of unknown origin install on your profile and update it without your knowledge. If you suspect that an app is acting like that, delete it immediately. You can always re-install it if necessary.
6. Protect your tweets if you wish
Twitter gives you the option to protect your tweets or make them public. If you want only your followers to see your tweets, follow these steps:
- Click the Wheel icon in the top right hand corner of the page. A menu is displayed. Click ‘Settings’.
- In the Tweets privacy section, select “Protect my Tweets”.
- Click the blue ‘Save changes’ button at the bottom of the page. You will be asked to enter your password to confirm the change.
As you can see, these tips are very easy to follow. There is really no excuse for not protecting the privacy and security of your Twitter account.
And you, how do you protect your social media accounts?