Twitter says that it has revamped its internal security after a rogue employee briefly deactivated President Donald Trump’s Twitter account.
“We have implemented safeguards to prevent this from happening again,” Twitter tweeted Friday. “We won’t be able to share all details about our internal investigation or updates to our security measures, but we take this seriously and our teams are on it.”
TWITTER SECURITY SLAMMED AFTER ROGUE EMPLOYEE DEACTIVATES TRUMP’S ACCOUNT
Experts slammed Twitter’s internal security after the employee took down the President’s Twitter account for 11 minutes on Thursday. The social media site said that the account was taken down by a customer support employee during their last day with the company.
Trump, whose @realDonaldTrump account has 41.8 million followers, addressed the situation during a tweet early Friday. “My Twitter account was taken down for 11 minutes by a rogue employee. I guess the word must finally be getting out-and having an impact,” he tweeted.
TWITTER SUSPENSION: HERE ARE A FEW ACCOUNTS THAT HAVE BEEN DEACTIVATED
The President turned his Twitter account into a powerful political weapon during his run to the White House. Experts, however, have warned that hackers could potentially use the same account to wreak havoc.
Evan Blair, co-founder of social media security firm ZeroFox said that, while Trump's account was not hacked, the deactivation incident is still cause for concern. "Trump’s personal Twitter account has become the official mouthpiece of the United States, making the national security or domestic safety implications of a compromised account far ranging," he explained, in an email to Fox News. "If his account falls into the wrong hands, malicious actors could send out a fake tweet that could impact the stock market, threaten national security or possibly prompt foreign military action. In the hands of a bad actor, Trump’s Twitter account could even be used to target certain corporate valuations or market segments."
The brief deactivation of Trump’s Twitter account on Thursday also sparked amusement on social media, with some people hailing the rogue employee as a “hero.” The employee has not been named.
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