Friday 22 February 2013

Twitter Adds Email Security to Ward Off Cybercriminals


Websecurity

To cut down on fake email scams and ploys to steal your passwords, Twitter has added an email authentication security measure to prevent malicious attacks on user accounts.
The company announced on Thursday it has started using a new technology DMARC, which aims to prevent cybercriminals from sending emails to users with a fake Twitter.com address.

"We send out lots of emails every day to our users letting them know what’s happening on Twitter," Twitter said on its official blog. "But there’s no shortage of bad actors sending emails that appear to come from a Twitter.com address in order to trick you into giving away key details about your Twitter account, or other personal information, commonly called 'phishing'."

Although the news comes just days after high-profile Twitter accounts such as Jeep and Burger King were victim to hackings, Twitter said it implemented DMARC earlier this month.



DMARC provides a way for email providers such as Gmail and Yahoo! Mail to block incoming mail from forged domains.

"While this protocol is young, it has already gained significant traction in the email community with all four major email providers – AOL, Gmail, Hotmail/Outlook, and Yahoo! Mail – already on board, rejecting forged emails," Twitter said in a statement. "We hope to see it gain more coverage for our users as even more email providers adopt it, and that it gives you more peace of mind when you get an email from us."

Image via iStockphoto, bluestocking

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