Facebook Will Alert You If It Thinks the Government Is Attacking Your Account
If you haven’t turned on two-factor authentication on Facebook, you should do it. If Facebook thinks someone was trying to access your account, it will notify you. These warnings can now appear if Facebook thinks the attacker has government backing.
In a blog post by Facebook’s chief security officer, the company said it is expanding its monitoring of suspicious login requests to include possible government attacks. While it is (hopefully) unlikely that most people will become the target of a nation state, receiving specialized notifications will help reduce any damage.
Facebook did not elaborate on which governments it monitors, or if that includes the United States. Facebook (like many tech companies) has repeatedly expressed frustration with domestic surveillance programs . However, it is unclear whether these warnings will include attacks from home or whether Facebook is simply monitoring foreign attacks .
However, as the sample notifications you can receive shows, the solution remains the same: enable two-factor authentication . If a government (domestic or otherwise) is trying to log into your account, the inclusion of two factors will be a useful obstacle.