Twitter Is Finally Rolling Out 2 Factor Authentication Security Feature

Twitter announced yesterday that they are finally rolling out a 2 factor authentication feature to help us all keep our Twitter accounts more secure.

For some time, Facebook has had a sophisticated security features. If you sign in from an unfamiliar location (to your previous sign-ins) – Facebook will then prompt you to pass some security checks to get into your account. Also Facebook has all of our phone numbers in their system, as this is used to verify your Facebook account when you first sign up.

Many have been asking Twitter to roll out this 2 factor authentication for some time, especially as hijacking and hacking of Twitter accounts is becoming more and more common, especially for high profile users and celebrities.

To setup 2 factor authentication, login to your Twitter account then head to your Settings – Account page (https://twitter.com/settings/account).

Towards the bottom of the page you will see an account security checkbox.

You will first need to add your mobile number then you can select this option to enable 2 factor authentication.

Once enabled, every time you sign-in to Twitter they will send you an SMS with a verification code to proceed. Again, this is useful for high profile users, celebrities and brands, but maybe not so much for your average user.

Here is the promo video from Twitter running demoing the new feature:

It’s worth noting that Twitter is still rolling this feature out internationally and may not be available in all countries just yet.