After a series of high-profile hacks and calls from the user base, Twitter has finally unveiled their form of two-step verification.
“Every day, a growing number of people log in to Twitter. Usually these login attempts come from the genuine account owners, but we occasionally hear from people whose accounts have been compromised by email phishing schemes or a breach of password data elsewhere on the web. Today we’re introducing a new security feature to better protect your Twitter account: login verification,” says Twitter.
It works similar to other two-step verification systems you may be familiar with (Google, for instance). Once you enable login verification, the next time you attempt to log in you’ll also need to enter a code that Twitter will send to your mobile device. So, it’s your password + mobile code. Two steps.
All you have to do to enable it is visit your account settings page.
Twitter says that you existing applications you’ve enabled via Twitter login should be unaffected:
“With login verification enabled, your existing applications will continue to work without disruption. If you need to sign in to your Twitter account on other devices or apps, visit your applications page to generate a temporary password to log in and authorize that application.”
Of course, two-factor authentication won’t solve all of your security problems, and it’s not foolproof. But it’s a much-needed buffer between you and everyone out there eyeing your account with malicious intent.