Twitter disabled the ability to post tweets via SMS

Twitter recently closed the function of sending tweets via SMS. Just a few days ago, the feature was abused by hackers who posted racial discrimination, bomb threats, and other vulgar information on Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s account. The ability to post tweets via SMS is an important feature in the early days of Twitter, but it is now more of a legacy feature, as most users post tweets via mobile apps. But now, this feature still exists.

We’ll reactivate this in markets that depend on SMS for reliable communication soon while we work on our longer-term strategy for this feature.

— Support (@Support) September 4, 2019

When someone’s mobile number is stolen, it can cause problems. Nowadays, hackers are increasingly using this technology to attack accounts, because phone operators often pay less attention to the proper security protection of their accounts. And that’s what happened to the Twitter CEO last Friday. When the hacker gets his number, they can use his username to send a text message or even log in to his account.

Twitter said that the purpose of turning off this feature is to protect the user’s account. In addition, the company also accused mobile operators of the need to address vulnerabilities that allowed such abuse. In addition, Twitter also said that the company also needs to improve its dual authentication system, because this system also relies on SMS, so it may also suffer the same harm.

Via: 9to5mac