Twitter is said to be improving its Web security -- including adding two-step authentication for users -- following an embarrassing high-profile hack of a prominent news feed, according to Bloomberg News.
The stock market as well as the Internet world was sent into turmoil this week after a hacker gained access to an Associated Press authenticated Twitter feed. The AP account briefly had the -- false -- news that President Obama had been injured in an explosion at the White House. The fake news sent the stock market tumbling, and wiped out "$136 billion in value," Bloomberg reported.
Such a public embarrassment cannot be repeated. And Twitter needs to shore up its security for its own fiscal future -- the site is rumored to be eyeing an initial public offering at some point, the news source reported, and a leak of this nature is not good for business.
Security experts believe the hack wasn't particularly sophisticated, and likely involved "theft" of the account's password.
Recently, Twitter has an increasingly prominent place in the news: the site disseminated much information around the Boston Marathon bombings (some of it blatantly false), and on April 3, the Securities Exchange Commission allowed companies to use social media to spread information that could "move markets," according to Bloomberg.
