Online security: your two-factor authorization checklist

April 24, 2013

Twitter reportedly is getting ready to roll out two-factor authentication in the coming weeks—a development that comes not a moment too soon as the company’s current security efforts fall short. Take Tuesday, when the state of Twitter’s account security was on full display as hackers took over the Associated Press Twitter account and falsely reported two explosions at the White House. The AP attack came just a few days after Twitter accounts controlled by CBS News—including ones for 60 Minutes, 48 Hours, and a network affiliate station in Denver—were taken over. The malicious attacks would have been harder, if not impossible, to pull off had these Twitter accounts been protected with two-factor authentication. Wired reports that feature will roll out to Twitter accounts gradually in the coming weeks. Two-factor authentication requires you to enter two login tokens before you can access an online account. The first token is your standard password (something you know), while the second is a login code randomly generated by a smartphone app or sent via SMS or email (something you have). To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2036298/online-security-your-two-factor-authorization-checklist.html#tk.rss_all