In an attempt to stop spammers from hacking into Facebook, the social networking site has rolled out a new step-by-step process to alert users that their account has been compromised. Although the popular site claims that the vast majority of its users have never experienced a security problem, this new process should help the small number of people who do.
On the company blog, Project Manager of Facebook’s Integrity Team Jake wrote, “This new change will help us not only fight spam, but also spread the word about security on Facebook.”
Currently, when an account has been compromised, Facebook sends an email to the user explaining the situation and provides links to solve the problem. According to Facebook, the new process involves “clear and simple steps taken within Facebook itself.” With this new process, Facebook expects to identify the true owner of the account in order to prevent hackers from using it to send spam in the future. Going forward, users will still receive a notification email, however, when they attempt to access the site, they will be led to a caution page with a message that their account has been temporarily suspended. The message also informs the user that suspicious activity has been detected on the account and will prompt the user to begin the verification process to ensure that they’re the legitimate owner of the account. The simple process eventually guides the user to select a new, secure password and refers them to the Facebook Security Page.
In addition to the security model, Facebook plans to launch similar processes to address the different threats people may face on the social networking site.
