Twitter is not offering adequate protection for its users,
particularly a growing number of businesses, claims security
firmLumension.
Millions of Twitter account holders were
unable to access the service yesterday when it was downed for
several hours by an apparent denial-of-service (DoS) attack.
Unknown attackers are believed to have bombarded the service
with requests, making Twitter unavailable to legitimate users.
Twitter has focused its energies almost exclusively on
developing features, said Don Leatham, senior director of solutions
and strategy at Lumension.
"But this DoS attack should highlight to Twitter that it needs
to redirect some of this energy to bolster its core security
measure to protect its users," he said.
Businesses are increasingly turning to Twitter as a core part
of their social media and communications strategy, but do not
consider the vulnerability of such services, according to the head
of a UK cyber security think tank.
Businesses must not become dependent on individual online
networking sites as they are
vulnerable to cyber attacks, said Tony Dyhouse, director of the
Cyber Security Knowledge Transfer Network.
Before integrating services such as Twitter into their
communication strategies, businesses should assess to what extent
security is a priority before committing, said Leatham.
"This incident has the potential to have a negative impact on
the brands using Twitter, as it could be seen to be highly
vulnerable to attack," he said.