Twitter has moved to issue a ‘friendly reminder’ to Twitter users of the best practices to adopt in relation to account passwords, following a spate of embarrassing hacks which have affected accounts including Burger King and jeep.
In a blog post Bob Lord, Twitter’s director of information security, said: “Over the past couple of days, there's been a fair amount of conversation about account security on Twitter. We thought we'd take advantage of this moment to remind you of best practices around passwords – both on Twitter and on the Internet generally.”
This advice includes using a strong password of at least 10 alpha-numeric characters and to beware any suspect links or websites masquerading as the Twitter log-in page.
Twitter users are also advised not to disseminate their passwords to third parties, particularly agencies claiming to be able to attract more followers or generate money.
Finally Lord recommends that tweeters ensure their computers and operating systems are up to date with the latest security and anti-virus software.