I tweet, therefore I am willing to take the risk

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By William Jackson
 

Connecting state and local government leaders

By William Jackson

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Despite recent incidents of account hijacking and phishing through Twitter, the micro-blogging service continues to attract government users.

Twitter, the micro-blogging service that lets you tell everyone everything they ever wanted to know about you in 140 characters or less, has evolved from nerd novelty to a must-have communications tool in record time, despite security concerns that are growing almost as fast as its user list.

Related stories:

Tweeters beware: All is not secure on the cyberfront

Twitter becomes a battleground in Iranian protests

GAO expands online presence with YouTube and Twitter

Twitter takes wing

Army gives soldiers access to Twitter, Facebook

The Web site GovTwit.com — no rude comments, please — is a directory of more than 2,000 Twitter users either in or commenting on government, and it has more than 17 million followers. Users include 375 at agencies, from the Air Force to the White House; 111 in the Defense Department; and 91 U.S. senators, representatives, staffers and committees from Capitol Hill.

But please use caution when following the minute-by-minute doings of your favorite pol. Account hijacking and Twitter phishing are becoming problems, as bad guys send out messages with malicious links to infect the unwary follower. Hard as it is to believe, you can’t trust everything that comes from a politician.

NEXT STORY: The steps beyond DNSSEC implementation

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