If you manage a Twitter account, you likely know the endless phishing attacks that come with the territory. Twitter has long been the target of various scammers who do their darnedest to make their email appear to be official Twitter messages. Well earlier this month Twitter began using a new technology, DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance,) to combat phishing attempts.
Basically DMARC uses authentication for those emails that are trying to cloud the specific domain where they are being delivered from. Using established authentication protocols, those users who are attempting to forge the domain that the message is coming from can be blocked much easier. If you want the full-on geek answer as to how this works, here it is in all its glory.
So is your account safer? Well, if you are a person that has trouble distinguishing scams or authentic email, yes. However most major hacks aren’t due to phishing emails. You’d most likely be hacked due to weak passwords, passwords used in multiple locations or spyware, so don’t think you can operate carefree because of this new change. Always differentiate your passwords, especially with any email accounts that could be needed to recover hacked social accounts.
For more information see the Official Twitter Blog.
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