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Even Twitter's CEO isn't safe from hackers

Is anyone safe?

Even Twitter's CEO isn't safe from hackers
11 July 2016

At 2:50 AM Eastern Time (that's 7:50 AM in the UK) on the morning of Saturday 9 July, something really embarrassing happened to Jack Dorsey - co-founder and CEO of Twitter.

His Twitter account was apparently hacked. 

The eagle-eyed writers of Engadget managed to pick up the rogue tweet, which claimed to be proof that the group OurMine had infiltrated the personal account of the Twitter boss. It was subsequently deleted.

If true (we're thinking it was - why would he send out that tweet for lols?), Jack Dorsey is another big scalp to be claimed by OurMine - a collective of hackers that have previously accessed the accounts of Mark Zuckerberg and Google's Sundar Pichai. 

Rather than logging in to these accounts to carry out any sinister activities, it would appear that OurMine is looking to demonstrate the vulnerability of social media accounts - breaching the accounts of famous figures to "test" their security, thus highlighting how readily the most secure digital lives can be accessed. 

We spoke to Kor Adana, writer and tech consultant for Mr Robot, about the world of hacking and password security. Here's what he had to say on the subject...

How do you set up the perfect password?

"I would use two-step verification (if it's offered).

"I use different passwords for each of my accounts: I make sure they're strong passwords with at least eight characters and a mix of upper-case, lower-case and a mix of numbers and symbols.

"With regard to security questions - and this may sound weird - I lie in my security answers. 

"I just know from being on both ends of a hack before that security questions have been used to compromise accounts all too often. You have to remember what your lie is.

"If something asks my what my mother's maiden name is I'll just put this go-to lie in there that only I know and only I'll remember. Even if someone else does know what my mother's maiden name is, they're not going to be able to compromise my account."