Facebook wants to protect people who are at increased risk of being attacked by cyber-attackers

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, announced on Thursday the expansion of its Facebook Protect security program. From now on, human rights defenders, activists, journalists and government officials who are at greater risk of being attacked by cyber-attackers will also be able to apply. The news was brought by The Hacker News portal.

Facebook Protect already includes more than 1.5 million users

Nathaniel Gleicher, head of security policy at Meta, argues that the work of these people is essential to the functioning of a democratic society. It is they who force governments and organizations to take responsibility and defend the rights of people around the world, which unfortunately means that they can easily be the target of targeted cyber attacks. Therefore, the company decided to provide them with better protection.

And so the Facebook Protect program was created, which is gradually reaching the whole world. It allows selected users to better secure their account, for example by enabling two-factor authentication. The company will also alert these users to potential attacks or advise them to change their password if their current password can be easily cracked.

Those who are eligible to join the program will be notified via a call on Facebook. So far, more than 1.5 million accounts have joined the program, with nearly 950,000 of them turning on two-factor authentication.

Easily vulnerable accounts are also protected by Apple and Google

The move comes weeks after Apple revealed to the world its plans to send users alerts if they may have been the target of an attack. They will be alerted via email, iMessage messages, and when you log in to the Apple ID portal, a prominent “Threat Alert” banner will appear at the top of the page.

Google has a similar program to Meta. Its purpose is to protect the accounts of selected users from account theft. Also, files that you download through Chrome or Gmail will be thoroughly scanned for malware.