Facebook to Push Notifications of New Security Tutorial

Facebook will provide in the next few weeks optional security controls in a tool called “Security Checkup” that it says makes security easier to manage for average users.

The company launched Security Checkup in May to prevent hackers from breaking into user accounts, allegedly because of an increase of vulnerability issues reported in 2015, as HOTforSecurity reported.

Users will receive a reminder at the top of the News Feed that brings up a security tutorial about logging out of unused apps, getting login alerts and strengthening passwords.

Here is a short guide to the three steps users take with “Security Checkup”:

First, Facebook wants users to log out of unused devices to decrease risks of unauthorized logins.

Second, users will be able to turn on a feature called login alerts, which lets them know if anyone else tries to log into their account. Facebook will send a notification if someone tries to log in from an unfamiliar device or browser.

 

Facebook users will also learn how to keep their password strong. The company recommends users avoid using their Facebook password anywhere else online, not share it with anyone. Passwords that are common or easy to guess should be changed.

 

Security Checkup is now available globally on desktop and will be coming to mobile soon, according to the company.

In January 2015, Facebook users fell victim to a malicious tagging campaign that ended up infecting at least 5,000 computers with a backdoor. At that time, the campaign was mirrored by cyber-criminals to prevent an early takedown. The following month, hackers took a more diversified approach to reach victims’ browsers and wreak havoc on Facebook walls. This spring, security researcher Laxman Muthiyah stumbled across a serious vulnerability in Facebook’s Graph API that had the potential to delete billions of Facebook photos due to other security issues.