Twitter launches service to tackle bad links

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Twitter is looking to take on the phishers and cyber criminals carrying out attacks through direct messages with the launch of a new service, which will scan links to keep them from spreading across the micro blogging site.

All links submitted to Twitter will be routed through the system so that malicious links can be detected, thereby preventing users from clicking through to potentially dangerous websites.

In a blog post, Del Harvey, director of Twitter's trust and safety team claimed: “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.”

Users may now see notice links shortened to twt.tl in direct messages and email notifications, which are where most of the problems occur.

Tweeters will no doubt have concerns about security after figures from Barracuda Networks indicated a rise in cyber criminal activity on the service between November 2008 and April 2009.

The number of accounts created during that period that were suspended for malicious or suspicious activity, or were somehow misused, increased by 66 per cent.

Biz Stone Twitter's co-founder, recently advised users to read the micro blogging service’s Keeping Your Account Secure section to learn about avoiding phishing attacks.

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