Twitter Safety Tips

Using Twitter is just like using any other social networking site, and it's a good to remember that Twitter safety tips are important. To help deter hackers, malware downloads, browser hijacking and other nefarious Internet activities, use the following Twitter safety tips to keep yourself protected.

Stay safe while using Twitter!

If you don't think you can be hacked or attacked via Twitter, you may be more lax when interacting with other Twitter users. What can happen and how do you remain safe?

First off, you can click on a bad link. Twitter uses shortened URLs when someone includes a link in their post. Links count towards a post's 140 maximum characters, so instead of having a full link that is 30 characters long, Twitter shortens the link to about 10 characters or less. While this saves space, it's harder to tell where the link will actually take you.

Twitter users sometimes give a hint to what you are clicking on, but if someone has bad motives in mind, you could be directed to a link with scripts that can download a virus or malware program. The biggest tip is to not click on links from posters you aren't familiar with.

Another pitfall with Twitter is that spammers can bombard your account with useless information. Until Twitter finds a consistent way to weed out spam accounts, you will probably be followed by some random person who turns out to be a spammer. What these spammers hope to do is to get you to follow them out of courtesy. It's common for Twitter users to return the favor by following someone that is following them. What happens after you follow a spammer is that they bombard your Twitter account with spam-tweets that are similar to ones that you get in your email.

One easy way to prevent this is to ignore spammers or delete them from your followers list. You can also alert the Twitter spam account by sending a direct message.

To tell if you have a spammer following you, a good rule of thumb is to click on their profile and see how much information they have available. Most spammers don’t take the time to post a picture or include any type of information. Also, don't follow them just because they follow you.

On the same token, spammers can attempt to gather your information via your IP address, which is the virtual address of your computer. They may try once or twice to hack into your account to get your information so they can get into your computer. The best way to prevent this is to make sure you have a firewall set up on your network or router.

Just as it happens on MySpace and Facebook, people may try to get in contact with you to talk or meet in person. They may tell you that you seem like an interesting person and it would be cool to be friends. Obviously, don't meet anyone you don't know. It seems like common sense, but there continues to be victims of online stalking and abuse each year. If you suspect that you are becoming involved with a person like this, ignore them and delete them from your list. This is the quickest and best way to avoid this type of behavior.

The most common issue across Twitter is computer attacks. Viruses, malware and spyware run rampant on the web and are accidentally downloaded all the time. Sometimes, computer users are coerced into downloading bad programs out of fear. Spammers can use shortened URLs to their advantage, directing clickers to a site that offers support because there is supposedly something wrong with your computer.

One of the best ways to protect yourself is to have current and up-to-date virus protection installed. Anti-virus programs should come with spyware protection and a firewall. If yours does not, then find one that does. Here are some recommendations:

• Kaspersky
• Norton Anti-Virus
• Trend-Micro
• Microsoft Security Essentials (this program is free and has attained many positive reviews)

Use your gut when it comes to using Twitter. If you get an inherent feeling that something isn't right, then it probably isn't. Don't click on anything that you don't know and don't befriend anyone that you think might try to do bad things to you or your computer.

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