Social media website Meta (earlier known as Facebook), earlier this week
announced a broadening of its Facebook protect security program to add human
rights activists, journalists, social activists, and government officials
exposed to malicious actors throughout the social media platforms. These
defenders and activists are vital for public debate in critical communities,
said Nathan Gleicher, security policy head at Meta. These people safeguard human
rights across the world, promote democratic elections, hold government and
political parties accountable. However, this makes them a primary target for
threat actors.
Facebook Protect, as of now, is being released around the world
in phases, it allows users that apply for a change to have robust safety
protections such as 2FA two-factor authentication, and looking out for possible
hacking threats. According to Meta, around 1.5 million user profiles have
enabled the Facebook Protect as of now, out of which, 9,50,000 profiles turned
on the 2FA feature after the feature was on the roll since September 2021.
The
program is similar to Google's APP (Advanced Protection Program), aimed at
protecting users with sensitive information and high visibility, putting them at
a greater risk of online attacks. It stops suspicious account access attempts
and incorporates strict checks before downloading softwares and files on Gmail
and Chrome. Users eligible for Facebook Protect will be informed via a Facebook
prompt, with an option to enable the advanced security features along with
identifying potential problems like weak passwords, that can be easily hacked by
actors for gaining access to FB accounts.
The announcement came a week after
Apple announced to notify targeted users of threat notifications by state-sponsored hackers. These notifications would be sent via email and iMessage
notifications to the phone numbers and addresses linked with Apples users' IDs.
Meta said "over the next several months, we’re going to carefully expand this
requirement globally. We’re encouraged by our early findings and will continue
to improve Facebook Protect over time."
