Finjan welcomes Twitter's new security move and advises adding SecureTweets for additional protection

Finjan welcomes the news that Twitter has quietly started checking URLs entered into user messages on its microblogging service. The new level of security might still leave room for improvement on several fronts.

"Twitter encourages the use of shortened URLs, which could be a problem if, as some reports indicate, the Twitter URL check would only work on full-length Web addresses," said Yuval Ben-Itzhak, Finjan's chief technology officer.

"Furthermore, the Twitter URL-check utilizes databases that need constant updates. This leaves a window-of-opportunity for cybercriminals to infect Twitter users' PCs," added Finjan's CTO. "During the time elapsing between database updates, no adequate protection will be provided."

Ben-Itzhak went on to say that Finjan applauds Twitter's ongoing effort to keep its users safe, and suggests boosting the overall security of Twitter with the use of real-time content inspection technologies.

To provide current Twitter users with an additional layer of web security, Finjan offers its free SecureTweets browser add-on for Internet Explorer and Firefox. It provides users with look-ahead alerts on the safety of URLs as well as shortened URLs showing on Twitter and other Web 2.0 websites.

SecureTweets is simple, easy to use, and complements Twitter's existing database-driven security capabilities since it utilizes real-time content inspection technology.

To download SecureTweets, please visit: http://www.finjan.com/SecureTweets

For more information about Finjan, please visit: www.finjan.com.

For alerts, please follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SecureTweets

For information on Twitter URL check: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9136218/Update_Twitter_now_blocking_bad_URLs_but_imperfectly?source=CTWNLE_nlt_security_2009-08-04