Staying Safe on Twitter: Identifying Common Cybersecurity Risks on the Social Media Platform

JAKARTADAILY.ID – Did you know, Indonesia ranks sixth on world Twitter users with 17.55 million users? But Twitter is not necessarily a safe place, nor are users aware of the cybersecurity threats that might lurk behind the threads.

Twitter, which was founded in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, is an online social networking and microblogging service that allows its users to send and read text-based messages called "tweets" of up to 280 characters.

According to Statista.com, Twitter has 325.5 million users worldwide as of October 2021, and based on data released by Statcounter, from November 2020 to December 2021, Twitter is the fourth most popular social media platform in Indonesia with a percentage of 3.76 percent of users.

Baca Juga: BSSN and the Ministry of Transportation Launch IAS-CSIRT to Strengthen Cybersecurity in Indonesian Aviation

Twitter, which is one of the ten most visited sites on the Internet, has also faced various cyberattacks.

So what do we need to watch out for on the platform? And what can we do to stay safe from cyberattacks?

Here are the most common cybersecurity risks on Twitter:

What is Twitter Account Hijacking?

According to a report from the Indonesian Security Incident Response Team on Internet Infrastructure Coordination Center, or Id-SIRTII/CC, which is now under the auspices of the Directorate of Cyber ​​Security Operations at the National Cyber ​​and Crypto Agency (BSSN), on July 15, 2020, between 20:00 and 22:00 UTC, there was a Twitter Account Hijacking cyber incident.

In the cyber incident, it was reported that 130 well-known Twitter accounts had been infiltrated by outsiders to promote Bitcoin scams.

Also Read: BSSN Introduces Local Cyber ​​Security Service Products at the Indo Defense 2022 Expo and Forum

Twitter and other media sources confirmed that the perpetrators had gained access to Twitter's administrative tools so they could modify accounts themselves and post tweets directly.

For information, Id-SIRTII/CC is an official government body that has the main task of conducting socialization with related parties about IT security, conducting early monitoring, early detection, early warning of threats to telecommunication networks from within and outside the country.

What is a Phishing Crime?