We all know that Facebook has been in the news lately regarding privacy issues. But last Thursday, the social networking site addressed the issue of online security, announcing two new security features aimed at protecting users from phishers and other online scammers.
“At Facebook, we’re constantly working on new ways to protect you from scams and help you keep your account and information secure,” said Facebook software engineer Lev Popov. “Today, we’re announcing some new tools and systems designed to keep the bad guys out and keep you abreast of suspicious activity so you can quickly take action to correct it.”
Among the new features available to all Facebook users, is the ability to allow users to approve the devices they use to log in and then be notified whenever their account is accessed from a device they haven’t approved. For example, if a user lists their work desktop, laptop and iPhone, and then someone tries to log onto their page from a different machine, security will be triggered. The user will be notified that another system has been used to try to access their account and they’ll receive information on how to reset their password and secure the account.
Facebook also is taking steps to block suspicious logons. “When we see that someone is trying to access your account from an unusual device, we’ll ask the person to answer an additional verification question to prove his or her identity as the real account owner,” Popov added. “For example, we might ask the person to enter a birth date, identify a friend in a photo or answer a security question if you’ve previously provided one. These questions are designed to be easy for you, and hard for a bad guy, and we’ve already seen some great results.”
The security announcement was unrelated to the company meeting from last Thursday, to discuss its recent privacy issues.
