Twitter introduces mobile verification to halt spate of hacks
Twitter has announced the introduction of a ‘two factor authentication’ system involving account verification via a mobile phone in order to halt a wave of hacking attacks on the service.
A spate of news organisations have had their Twitter feeds jacked in recent months; most prominently the AP which issued a false tweet claiming that the US president had been injured in a bomb attack, but also including the FT, /news/2013/04/21/cbs-twitter-accounts-hacked-syrian-electronic-army ">CBS and /news/2013/05/05/syrian-electronic-army-hacks-e-online-s-twitter-account-and-outs-justin-bieber">E! The new system prevents log-in from a new device unless accompanied by a code provided by a pre-designated mobile phone. It is hoped this will be sufficient to thwart attacks on the soft social media underbelly of most news organisations which can be accessed when the email address and password of registered users are stolen.