Facebook Protect is now going to extend towards more notable users along with physical security keys for two-factor authentication

Facebook launched several protocols to provide maximum security to the accounts of the political parties and candidates as a part of its 2020 US Presidential Election efforts. One such security measure was Facebook Protect, a platform that monitors the security of all those accounts that belonged to participants and candidates of the election, their staff, and elected or nominated officials. This platform also provides a physical key that enables two-factor authentication so that these accounts could be protected from getting hacked or becoming a target of some other form of cybercrime. Now, Facebook Protect is going to be extended to more notable people who are in the limelight and hackers are always after their accounts to perpetrate cybercrime.

As per Axios, Facebook’s head of security policy, Nate Gleicher has announced that Facebook Protect will soon come to high-profile journalists, human rights activists while continue to provide security to the political accounts. After President-elect Joe Biden assumes office from 21st January 2021, civil unrest is expected and there are high chances that cybercrime will increase, especially targeting these high-profile accounts belonging to notable figures. Facebook Protect will add extra security to these profiles with real-time monitoring of their accounts.

An important reason to protect these accounts is that they can be misused for spreading misinformation. It can cause a lot of harm and Facebook thinks that instead of waiting for something to happen and then take action against it, it is better to improve the security of the accounts belonging to the people who are facing this danger the most.

Another important aspect of this whole protection protocol is two-factor authentication. As per Nate Gleicher, over 70% of the people who were involved in the recent US Presidential Election had two-factor authentication activated for their accounts which is enabled through physical security keys. Now, Facebook is extending these security keys for all the notable people too who need more protection from hackers.

Regular Facebook users will also be able to use these security keys, but they will have to buy them, and then register them with their accounts.

In September, Gleicher’s campaign manager claimed that the platform was trying to boost hyper-partisan news accounts that can be a cause of the spread of disinformation. However, Facebook seems to believe that these policies and protocols are going to help people in the future also because internet political wars are not new, and neither is cybercrime.


Photo: Arnd Wiegmann / Reuters

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