Video of How to Backup Your Tweets using Backupmytweets.com

I got this question today via a Twitter DM on if it was safe to use this service.  Although I’d seen many people using it and then tweeting out about it, I decided it was best to test drive it.  I had seen @AdamJackson post months ago saying he contacted Twitter directly and they sent him a file with all his tweets but he’s a pretty prolific Tweeter (currently 46,384 tweets)

Safe?

I would say that it’s safe to use backupmytweets.com to do Tweet backups because it uses openauth instead of asking you for your password.

Worth It?

Now as to the value of the backup…that’s another matter as it only backed up 3,200 of my Tweets and the information on the home page is unclear about if you get 1GB of backup space with free accounts as well as when you pay.  They’re basically saying they want to pay you $10 to tweet out about their product.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Update 2: Edited a bit of grammar at request of poster (homonyms, commas, spelling, semicolon, spacing, referring to Adria as a generalized type of person vs an individual

E Nelson
March 12th, 2009

Okay, I couldn’t take it anymore after reading all the ignorant comments attacking Adria. I am a fellow IT consultant and I deal with security issues every day. I see hackers scanning my clients sites EVERY day looking for potential openings and exploits. These hackers are using untraceable zombie networks from all over the world. Chinese hackers; Romanian hackers; and yes many pre-teen US hackers.

Just because Bob and the rest of the computer illiterate posters here have no clue about technology, it does not mean that anyone else should remain as clueless as they are. The fact of the matter is, as an IT consultant responsible for my client’s web technology and any sensitive information associated with their websites, I ABSOLUTELY want “an Adria” to point this out as quickly as possible so that I can act on it rather than have multiple GIGANTIC security holes remain exposed for weeks, with hundreds of untraceable IP connections downloading the information. All of these security breaches can be easily found AUTOMATICALLY with internet scanners very similar to what Google uses to index the entire internet. I hate to break this to you, Bob, but I can almost guarantee you that there are Chinese and Eastern European hackers that have had this information well before Adria found it. And if you think they are going to call up Norm and let him know, I have some oceanfront property in Iowa to sell you.

The fact of the matter is that Norm Coleman and the people working for him are either completely incompetent or blatantly negligent. Adria was not the first person to alert the Norm Coleman campaign to the potential problems and yet they continued to ignore their duties to A) FIX THE PROBLEM B) Alert the donors of their mistake and C) TAKE THE DAMN SITE DOWN. It takes 2 minutes to do this until you can figure out what the problem is. Instead, the Coleman campaign claimed their site was hacked for political purposes, claimed they contacted the Secret Service to investigate and who then unbelievably and incorrectly said that no sensitive information had leaked out.

So the question should be, Bob, as a donor, would you not want Norm or someone else to alert you to the fact that your credit card information has most assuredly fallen into the hands of international hackers?

Enelson, thank for taking the time to write such a detailed comment from your perspective on this. I was so moved that I wanted to give a voice to your words.

GRC’s Ultra High Security Password Generator is a good choice when you’re out at a client site and need something random and secure. There is also a specific area for generating secure WPA passwords. You may recognized the domain as it’s the brainchild of Steve Gibson who is well known for his hard drive recovery product Spinrite and weekly co-hosted computer security podcast, “Security Now!”

2. On your computer

Use Keepass which also securely stores and manages your passwords. I highly recommend this tool. Watch my video screencast featuring Keepass’ Auto-Type feature which saves you from entering passwords in manually each time. Very nice piece of software.

3. In your browser

With this Firefox Extension, Password Hasher. I haven’t used this extension in a long time since I use the first two in tandem but Lifehacker reviewed it last year and gave it a thumbs up. It could be a great solution for you if you were running a portable version of Firefox and didn’t have access to the internet.
(Supports FF versions 1.5 – 3.0, updated September 1st, 2008).

Watch in this video how you can save time when you login to your Google or Google Apps account.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Mac and Linux users, don’t despair! There’s a version of Linux and MacOSX called Keepassx for you as well on the website.

What if I need a password while I’m out and about?
No worries. Not only is there a portable USB flash drive distro but there are several ported versions for your PocketPC Windows Mobile and Smartphones, Blackberry, Symbian, U3 Flash drive menu and PortableApps.com suite

Why you need Keepass

• Portable – Take your passwords with you
• Cross Platform – Windows, Mac OSX, Linux and PDA mobile devices
• Security – AES and TwoFish encryption
• Import/Export to csv, txt, html and xml
• Share a single database across a network
• Secure clipboard management
• and the list of features goes on