Twitter adds security measures for high-profile political users
- Sara Fischer, author of Axios Media Trends
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Twitter is adding new security measures for a designated group of high-profile, election-related Twitter accounts in the U.S.
Why it matters: The move follows a major hack of high-profile Twitter users in July that security experts worry could foreshadow security risks ahead of the election.
Details: Beginning Thursday, accounts belonging to members of the U.S. Executive Branch, U.S. Congress, U.S. Governors and Secretaries of State, presidential campaigns, political parties and candidates with Twitter Election Labels running for U.S. House, U.S. Senate, or Governor will be required to implement the new features.
- Some major U.S. news outlets and political journalists will also be required to implement the new features, which include stronger passwords, and password reset protection.
- Those accounts will also be strongly advised to implement two-factor authentication, provides an additional layer of security to protect accounts from unauthorized logins.
- The select accounts that are required to make security changes will be informed via an in-app notification from Twitter about a few of the initial account security measures the tech giant will require or strongly recommend. (See above.)
- While Twitter says it's requiring certain accounts to take these measures, it encourages anyone who has an account to take these additional precautions as well.
The big picture: For Twitter, it's not just important to keep accounts safe, but to also make sure its platform is trusted by users and regulators around the world. Following its major hack in July, policymakers expressed concern about the platform's vulnerabilities.
What's next: Twitter says it will implement additional proactive internal security safeguards for these accounts in the coming weeks, including more sophisticated detections and alerts and expedited account recovery support.
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