Twitter to run all links through anti-phishing filter

10 March 2010 11:33 GMT / By Duncan Geere

Twitter, hurt by a recent spate of phishing attacks, has revealed plans to run all links through a filter to make sure that they don't contain anything nasty. The service scans any link posted, and if it's iffy then it'll be rejected.

It also means that links posted will get run through a new URL shortener that the company has been testing - twt.tl. The company says: "By routing all links submitted to Twitter through this new service, we can detect, intercept, and prevent the spread of bad links across all of Twitter. Even if a bad link is already sent out in an email notification and somebody clicks on it, we’ll be able keep that user safe".

As most phishing attacks are sent via Direct Messages, that'll be the first place that the filter is rolled out to. You might see twt.tl links appearing there and in your email notifications, if you have them. It's not clear what effect the move will have on URL-shortening services, however, like bit.ly and tinyurl.

Via: blog.twitter.com

Full tags

Software, Websites, Twitter, Viruses And Malware, Phishing