Maybe its no coincidence that Facebook recently announced some new security just after Mark Zuckerberg’s personal fan page was evidently hacked.
However, for whatever reason, better security on Facebook is always a good thing.
Hypertext transfer protocol secure
Firstly from today they say on the Facebook blog posted on 26.1.11. you’ll be able to experience Facebook entirely over HTTPS - It might be a good idea to turn this on (as always we have to turn it on rather than off) this especially if you are accessing Facebook on free WiFi – like at coffee shops, airports and other public places.
HTTPS is used by banks or online shops – a lock shows in the address bar to show that the browser is using a secure connection, (“HTTPS”) to communicate with the website and protect your information. Pages do take longer to load, and some applications may not be supported but privacy is the key so that shouldn’t worry us. Facebook say that they will work hard to resolve these issues.
To set this up…..
Click Account – Top Right
Account Settings
Tick – Browse Facebook on a secure connections HTTPS
Click Save.
As yet I do not see this option, but seeing as it took me over 2 months to get Facebook email, we may have to wait a while.
Social Authentication
Facebook also mention in this blog that they are now going use Social Authentication, where you have to name your friends from photos to log into Facebook maybe from a different country as normal – but this isn’t actually new as my BF had to do this when he logged in on holiday in September. So that’s strange. Also this maybe be fun for Facebook users that have 800 friends that they don’t *really* know.
Quote
At Facebook we strive to put people at the center of all of our products and to design every experience you have on the site to be social. This is obvious in products like photos, where pictures are organized around the people that appear in them. We also want to bring the benefits of social design to experiences where you wouldn’t traditionally expect them, like account security. Social authentication is our latest effort toward this goal.
The vast majority of people who have used Facebook have never experienced a security problem. However, if we detect suspicious activity on your account, like if you logged in from California in the morning and then from Australia a few hours later, we may ask you to verify your identity so we can be sure your account hasn’t been compromised.
If and when this all takes place, (if it is not already in place) we obviously welcome any new security measures to stop password thieves and hackers. Sadly though a recent press conference Facebook were reported in saying that they believe they are doing enough to stop apps spamming users.
Therefore there is still a long journey ahead to fully protect our privacy on Facebook.
