Reader, Dave Zan, was nice enough to respond to yesterday’s post about Twitter potentially being on its way to experiencing a social media crisis, with a link to Twitter’s official statement regarding the recent Burger King and Jeep hacks.
Within this statement/post, Twitter addresses the concerns of the public by saying:
“Over the past couple of days, there’s been a fair amount of conversation about account security on Twitter. We thought we’d take advantage of this moment to remind you of best practices around passwords – both on Twitter and on the Internet generally.”
As I read this, I thought “Oh good! this is what I’ve been waiting for!” However, the short post continues and ends with four short security tips for keeping our online passwords safe. That’s all. No mention of two-step authentication that everybody has been talking and asking for, no statement on what Twitter is doing and has done to prevent these attacks from happening again, no mention of better security or links to previous posts with such information.
I must say, that I’m disappointed to see the vagueness of this response to such an important issue.
What do you think?
How do you feel about Twitter’s response to these hacks? Are you as disappointed as I am to not see more emphasis on our account security? Share your thoughts with me below.
Update:
Dave Zan brought the following two links to my attention. Seems Twitter is currently taking actions to heighten their security, though they definitely could have made this easier for people to find and know about: Twitter is seeking software engineer for product security and Twitter mulls implementing two-factor authentication.
Author of Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, Melissa Agnes is a leading authority on crisis preparedness, reputation management, and brand protection. Agnes is a coveted keynote speaker, commentator, and advisor to some of today’s leading organizations faced with the greatest risks. Learn more about Melissa and her work here.
Melissa – I have to respectfully disagree with you here. Emphasis on 'respectfully.' 🙂
If you ask the general public who's to blame, they'll respond with two parties – the hacker, or the idiot who used a weak password. Neither of those parties are Twitter.
While you may have a point about the requests for two factor authentication, jumping in with a large "woe is me" statement is effectively asking Twitter to take a bullet for an issue which isn't their fault.
Why should Twitter willingly 'own' more of this issue than they deserve?
Not only is that bad for Twitter, it's bad for the rest of Twitter's users and the general public. Crying wolf says "our apologies aren't genuine – we'll throw them around at any slight provocation."
Hi Jeff,
I definitely agree with you that Twitter has no apology due. My point with this post was to share my disappointment in Twitter not addressing the security issues that everybody is rightfully demanding. Posting a very generic message about better password protection is OK for regular posts, but in this case, when companies and individuals are increasingly worried that Twitter is much too easy to hack (due to too many hacked situations in the past month alone), I would have liked to see some reassurance from the social media brand. Reassurance from their end, not the users'.