Here's How You Protect Your Twitter Account From Being Hacked

Yesterday, I noticed peculiar tweets like the one below were appearing on my profile.

The fastest way to burning off fat and lose weight http://t.co/t1Vh3xApNe featured and recommended by Dr Oz. show.

- Ryan Bushey (@R_Bushey) February 16, 2014

Clearly, my account had been compromised by something. Although these messages were harmless, Twitter profiles can be vulnerable to more serious hacks if you don't follow a few easy steps.

Here's how you can protect your Twitter profile from being hacked.

Log in to your Twitter account on a computer and go to Settings.

This is the main menu. Scroll over to the left and click apps.

Users need to be careful if they offer access to tons of third party apps. Revoke access to some of the programs since they can provide a hole in your profile for hackers to enter especially if you use the same password for everything. Once you finish here, go to Security and Privacy.

On this menu, turn on settings like telling Twitter to send you login verification requests. This feature will alert you if someone is trying to access your profile or protect your tweets so people have to get permission from you before they decide to follow you.

Scroll down and turn on/off the ability for people to find you on Twitter by email address. Once you finish that, move up the screen and go the Password option.

The final step is change your password. Make sure you do this frequently. That's all it takes to protect your Twitter profile.