Facebook Protect Program It was first tested in the US in 2018 and was later widely expanded during the US 2020 presidential elections. This program is designed to protect user accounts that are at high risk of cyberattacks. These account users usually fall under smaller groups such as – journalists, human rights defenders, activists and even government officials. Facebook Protect Now available in India and Facebook is planning to release this feature in 50 countries.
How does Facebook Protect work?
When activated, this feature makes it mandatory for accounts to use two-factor authentication (2FA) and enables additional automatic protection for security. Users falling under these small groups will usually get a notification from the social media platform to activate the Facebook Protect feature. Steps such as mandatory 2FA and account monitoring for added security are aimed at protecting these accounts from cyberattacks.
When you open the app, Facebook sends a notification to enable the Facebook Protect feature. It doesn’t ask for any account details and only asks you to turn on 2FA (if not already) with Facebook Protect enabled.
How to get Facebook Protect?
This feature is recently introduced in India and it may take some time for most of the people to get the notification to enable it. Facebook is soon going to start a process that will allow users to register if they do not receive notifications. The company has disclosed that there is a combination of several factors that decide the list of at-risk accounts. The network relies on experts from around the world who can identify key critical voices.
Currently, there is no way for accounts to receive the Facebook Protect feature if it does not belong to a journalist, human rights defender or an activist. The company has not disclosed whether Facebook Protect will be rolled out to other accounts. However, the 2FA feature can be used by anyone to increase overall security.
What makes this an important security feature?
Facebook says the feature is yet to be used as only 4 percent of all users on the messaging platform have 2FA enabled. 2FA is a security feature that allows access to a particular Facebook account from a new device with just a login code. These login codes come either via SMS or from a third-party authenticator app like Google Authenticator.
The 2FA feature can be an important defense mechanism for all accounts. Even if hackers somehow manage to get your account password, they won’t get access until they get the code or one-time password. The company has revealed that so far more than 1.5 million high-risk accounts have activated the feature and only 950,000 of them have activated the 2FA feature.
What if this feature is not activated?
Facebook has made this feature mandatory for every user account notified by the company and that account is deemed to be high risk. These user accounts will need to have 2FA turned on for the Facebook account if it is not already done.
Users will also be provided with a time limit to accept the notification. If you do not accept the notification within the given time limit, your account will be locked. The company also says that no account data will be lost if the account is locked. Users will be able to regain access to their accounts by turning on Facebook Protect and 2FA.
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