Twitter acquires WhisperSystems mobile security technology

Twitter has made a move to reinforce its security by acquiring encryption and network security tools designed for Android devices.

The company acquired WhisperSystems, a company co-founded by Moxie Marlinspike, a widely known security researcher and ardent privacy advocate. WhisperSystems developed a hardened version of Google Android which gives full disk encryption, network security tools and encrypted backup of their mobile device data. The corporate also developed automated voice and text messaging encryption technologies.

“Now that we're joining Twitter, we're anticipating bringing our technology and our expertise into Twitter's services,” based on a post inside the company's blog.

Twitter failed to say the way it would use the technology. WhisperSystems said it'd temporarily move its services offline. Its RedPhone service for voice encryption is straight away being taken down. Users of its FlashBack service, which supplies secure mobile backup may have one month to access backup data before the service is terminated.

Experts was documenting a gentle rise in social networking threats. Twitter have been forced to enhance its security as attackers have been targeting its service owing to its growing popularity. In March, the corporate rolled out HTTPS encrypted site to circumvent snooping of Twitter traffic over unsecured Wi-Fi connections. Last year, the messaging company settled a dispute with the Federal Trade Commission, agreeing to reinforce its internal security practices following the hijacking of dozens of high profile accounts.

~ Robert Westervelt

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