Facebook Strengthens Logon Security

Lately Facebook has been all over the news regarding security and privacy issues. Today Facebook replied, by announcing some new tools, settings, and measures to allow users to better protect their logons. In his blog, Facebook’s Lev Popov describes the new settings and features in nice detail.

In a nutshell, users now have the ability to be notified of a logon from a variety of devices. From his post:

Login Notifications

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been testing a new feature that allows you to approve the devices you commonly use to log in and then to be notified whenever your account is accessed from a device you haven’t approved. This feature is now available to everyone.

To try it out, go to the Account Settings page and click on the link next to “Account Security” at the bottom of the page. If you select the option to receive notifications for logins from new devices, when you log in you’ll be asked to name and save the various devices you use to access Facebook.

The feature itself is easy to enable: From Account Settings > Account Security you will see the following screen:

I like that users can name and save various “devices” they use to access Facebook. If someone logs into that account from a device not on this list, Facebook will prompt that user for further information. Handy!

Facebook has also done some tuning/magic on their side to block bogus or questionable logon attempts. If they see logons from unusual devices, they will prompt those users with additional verification questions, in essence, making them prove they are who they say they are:

I think these are great steps, and I am glad to see Facebook stepping it up in regards to securing account access. When you consider the high prevalence of password-stealing Trojans and Koobface (malware that targets Facebook users) these measures are certainly a move in the right direction.

More general information on what Facebook does for security can be found on their Security Page.