Twitter: Five reasons why you should do five things to protect your data
Sophos Datenschutz, Tipps, Social media
On 27 October 2022, Elon Musk took control of Twitter. Since then, the pace of change has been dizzying. The situation can currently be described as highly uncertain at best, and at worst downright chaotic and potentially very dangerous. In short period of time, we have seen events that quickly compromise the security and privacy the security and privacy of the platform and the data stored on it, as well as - as well as uncertainty as to whether Twitter will even exist in the coming months or weeks. weeks to come.
In view of this development, it is only prudent to own engagement on the platform and, above all, the personal information personal information stored there and to take potentially short-term measures to protect this data. to protect this data - because a possible complete crash of the platform seems complete crash of the platform seems possible. At the moment there are five areas of concern, which relate to the security, privacy and viability of Twitter. privacy and the viability of Twitter.
- The massive, sudden, unplanned and
unstructured loss of personnel. First, attackers may be able to use Twitter
as a platform to target users with spam, phishing, fraud and other attacks,
fraud and other attacks. Second, attackers can more easily
compromise systems to collect and steal data.
- Chaos and uncertainty around
Account verification and combating misinformation. The mixing
of the previously existing verification process with the "purchased hook" for
8 dollars, even though it has since been withdrawn, created the perfect
storm of confusion and encouraged malicious activity. Thus, within
days, it was almost impossible to distinguish legitimate accounts from parodic or even
malicious impersonation accounts.
- Twitter's willingness and ability to comply with legal
security and privacy requirements. The risks in
this situation are simply unknown. We have yet to see a situation
seen a situation where such a large and important platform could possibly deviate so quickly
so far from regulatory compliance. While
regulators typically follow a very methodical process, the current situation could be
the current situation could also involve very extensive, restrictive and sudden
enforcement activity from the regulatory side.
- Twitter's financial viability.
If Twitter were to fail as a company and go bankrupt, what would
happen to the data and systems on which it is stored?
Would it be sold off in a liquidation? Would financiers, which include.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar, be able to take ownership and control of the data and systems?
data and systems? Once again, we are in uncharted
terrain and the answer is: we simply don't know.
- The current level of unpredictability seems to be to continueor even worsen. Decisions are made with made with little planning and quickly reversed or changed with just as little planning. or changed. What Twitter is changes not just from day to day, but from hour to hour. This makes risk assessment almost impossible. It also creates an environment that strongly favours threat actors. The worst is that there is literally nothing to indicate that this state of affairs will change for the better.
With all these unknowns, the rule of thumb is once again, is to assume the worst when it comes to security. This could mean that the platform suddenly disappears without warning and the personal information of previous users of previous users fall into the hands of undesirables. Against five steps are recommended to protect yourself and your personal data. personal data
- Make sure you have your own copy of your
Twitterinformation!
If Twitter becomes inaccessible due to government, creditor or other or other action, all your information could be lost without warning. could be lost without warning. At this time, Twitter offers the ability to download personal information. However, it reportedly takes a long time to However, it often takes days to respond to requests for data, and due to the and due to the worsening staffing situation and the expected increase in demand. demand, you should take this step immediately. - Remove all personal and confidential
confidential information from Twitter!
One of the greatest risks is that personal or sensitive sensitive information you have stored on Twitter could fall into the hands of cybercriminals. hands of cybercriminals. Accordingly, they should keep information such as date of birth, phone numbers, payment information, geographic location information and other information that, alone or in combination with other information that, alone or in combination with other information, could be dangerous to you you, your family or those you care about, including direct messages and tweets. Direct messages and tweets. If you are thinking about deleting all tweets, likes, direct messages and media, you should download copies first. downloaded beforehand. - Secure access to your Twitter account.
The tight staffing situation may mean that Twitter may not be able to combat account hijacking to the same extent as in the past or help or help recover hijacked accounts to the same extent as in the past. It has always been important to secure access to your Twitter account well, It's even more important now. Therefore, you should definitely use a password that is only used on Twitter and use multifactor authentication. You should also disconnect all apps that are connected to your Twitter account, and only connect accounts when you need to, and disconnect them when you're done. you are finished. - Secure your Twitter presence.
If you plan to stay active on Twitter, you should use protected tweets or even consider blocking your account. block your account. This allows you to control who can see your posts and interact with you. interact with you. If you don't plan to stay active on Twitter, you can even deactivate your account, but you shouldn't delete it. By deleting it, you can share your account with other people and thus Allow strangers to impersonate you. - Change yourapproach toTwitter.
Basically, you should change your approach to Twitter, the people on the platform and what they say. In other In other words, when in doubt, don't believe anyone for what they say or without taking steps to independently verify the identity and information. independently verify the identity and information. For example, if an account appears to person or organisation, look for another verifiable source for what is other verifiable source for what is said there, such as an SSL-protected website whose digital certificate you can verify. Be especially careful when validating Twitter accounts with other validate Twitter accounts: We have already seen several fake accounts, working to give the illusion of legitimacy by verifying each other. verifying each other.
Conclusion: no time to panic
The fact is that we have never before been confronted with a situation
situation like this before, where a website of such social, political and economic
political and economic importance as Twitter has experienced such a massive unravelling
levels has experienced such a massive disintegration. As a result, it is difficult to
to know exactly what is going to happen and what to do. What we in the world of
can tell everyone in the world of information security is that this is not a time to panic
panic, but it is a time to take swift and decisive action to counter
to counter the very real possibility that some or even all of these worst-case
even all of these worst-case scenarios come to pass. So right now you should
start ensuring the security of your Twitter data right now.