Twitter boasts a huge number of active users, and a good chunk of the userbase includes notable personalities and brands. Moreover, Twitter is a source of news for many, so is increasingly becoming a credible platform to keep track of trends, news, and reach out to companies.

That makes it a good place for attackers to target verified accounts, make a scam campaign popular, and other malicious activities. So how can you keep your Twitter account secure from cybercriminals?

1. Enable Two-Factor Authentication

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is an essential step to secure your account. With this method, even if your username and password get leaked, the hacker will need an extra code to gain access.

It is easy to enable 2FA on Twitter. To enable, head to the Settings > Security and account access > Security.

twitter two factor

Here, you should find the option to enable 2FA. Once you go ahead by clicking on it, choose any of the options available—text (via SMS), application (2FA apps), or security key (hardware keys).

twitter security setting

The most convenient choice should be opting for the application-based two-factor authentication, but if you have a security key, that's even better (but obviously not essential).

2. Pick a Strong Password

Even with 2FA in place, you need to have a strong password that cannot be easily guessed. That means not relying on a pet's name or personal details you may regularly share like where you live.

Also, make sure that you are not re-using the same password everywhere; keep a unique password for your Twitter account. Password managers help you get this done without any hassle.

Related: What Is the Best Password Manager for Your Device?

3. Tweak Your Privacy Settings

By default, your tweets are visible to the public, i.e. anyone with or without an account on Twitter can find what you tweet.

If you do not want everyone to access what you share, choose to protect your tweets. When you do that, only your followers will be able to see what you share.

And you get the ability to approve your followers.

You can find the option to protect your tweets by heading to Settings > Privacy and safety > Audience and tagging.

twitter privacy

Here you need to enable the Protect your Tweets feature.

tweet protection

You can also control if you want users to message you or search for you using your email address.

Explore the privacy options to tailor your experience and beef up your Twitter security.

4. Avoid Oversharing Information

No matter what the platform is, you should limit what you share with the world.

You may have noticed users constantly tweeting every detail of their experiences in the form of a Twitter thread. While that could present good insights for others, it also gives the attackers an excellent opportunity to find out vital details about you, which they can exploit.

Especially considering how a social media platform can help hack a human, the more details you share, the likelier it is for potential attacks to be effective and devastating.

5. Don't Always Trust Verified Accounts

Twitter offers a useful feature to verify the accounts of notable personalities and organizations.

But you should not trust what the verified users share without proper verification. At the end of the day, those accounts can also be compromised.

You might end up buying a fake product, entering your payment details, or sharing your personal information with a fraud campaign.

Related: Types of Information You Should Never Post Online

There are many instances where attackers used verified accounts to promote crypto scams without the followers realizing it. So you need to do your research before trusting anything shared by a verified account.

If you have a verified account, be extra careful about your privacy settings, account password, and 2FA.

It is easy to come across popular tweets with relevant hashtags related to your interests.

Unless the domain is clearly visible in the link preview, you should avoid clicking on it. Malicious attackers often use link shorteners (i.e. tinyurl.com/xyz) to make the link look innocent. Instead, you could be downloading malware or giving personal data to a cyberattacker.

7. Filter Through Your Direct Messages

Check your privacy settings, If anyone can send you direct messages, you need to stay vigilant about the messages you receive.

You may receive malicious DMs from a genuine-looking profile that promises you to verify your account, increase your followers, or just want you to act on something.

To spot newly created accounts, you can check the joining date on the profile, but that does not tell you the whole story. Stay skeptical and remember not to click on links from strangers.

8. Review Connected Applications

twitter connected accounts

You may have authorized several applications in the past that have access your Twitter account and your email address associated with it.

This happens when you try to sign into a service or connect a platform to your Twitter account. While not every application is a threat to your privacy, it is good to review what you have connected on a regular basis.

If a shady application has access to your account, your email address may not be private anymore. Review the applications connected and revoke permissions for the ones that you no longer need.

9. Disable Tweet Location

twitter location

In case you have location information enabled, your tweets may be exposing where you are, at a certain point of time, perhaps even in real-time—which is not something you would want publicly available.

You need to head to your privacy settings and find the location information settings to disable it.

10. Filter Your Feed by Muted Words

twitter muted words

While you need to ensure that you follow topics and users of interest, it is also important to have a feed that does not show you what want to avoid seeing, like fake lottery scams.

This will help make your Twitter experience better and also keep you away from potential malicious posts.

You can do that well by muting specific words like "lottery", "hacking tool", etc. These are just a couple of examples—depending on what you like and what you do not, mute as many words as you like.

Stay Safe When Using Twitter

Twitter can be a great interactive platform to connect with new people and gain insights from useful threads. But it is also harbors malicious activities.

Fortunately, Twitter offers plenty of privacy and security features that you can tweak to tackle spam and malicious content.