The Facebook Program Protect was first tested in the US in 2018 and was then expanded extensively during the US Presidential Election 2020.
This program was designed to protect a user account at high risk of cyberattacks.
These account users usually fall under small groups such as journalists, human rights defenders, activists, and even government officials.
Facebook Protect is now available in India and Facebook plans to release this feature to 50 countries.
How does Facebook work protect? This feature when activated makes it mandatory for the account to use two factor authentication (2fa) and allow additional automatic defenses for protection.
Users who are under these small groups will usually find notifications from the social media platform to activate the Facebook Protect feature.
Steps like 2fa compulsory and monitor accounts for additional security aim to protect these accounts against cyberattacks.
Facebook sends notifications to activate the Facebook feature protect when you open the application.
It doesn’t ask for any account details and just ask you to turn on 2fa (if it’s not finished) along with activating Facebook Protect.
How to get Facebook Protect? This feature was recently introduced in India and may need some time before most people find notice to activate it.
Facebook will soon have a process that allows users to register if they don’t get a notification.
The company has revealed that there is a combination of several factors that determine the risky list of accounts.
The network depends on experts around the world that can identify prominent voices that stand out.
At present, there is no way to get a feature to get a Facebook feature to protect if it does not belong to journalists, human rights defenders or activists.
The company has not revealed whether Facebook Protect will be launched to another account.
Although, 2fa features can be used by anyone to improve overall security.
What makes it an important security feature? Facebook states that this feature remains underutilized because only 4 percent of all users on the messaging platform have 2fa turned on.
2fa is a security feature that allows access to certain Facebook accounts from new devices only with login code.
This login code comes via SMS or from third-party Authenticator applications such as Google Authenticator.
Features 2fa can be an important defense mechanism for all accounts.
Even if the hackers somehow get a password to your account, they will not get access until they get a one-time code or password.
The company has revealed that so far more than 1.5 million high-risk accounts have activated this feature and out of them only around 950,000 new accounts activating 2fa features.
What happens if this feature is not activated? Facebook has made this mandatory feature for each user account that will be notified by the company and the account is considered high risk.
This user account must turn 2fa for a Facebook account if it is not finished.
Users will also be given deadlines to receive notifications.
If you do not receive notifications in the given deadline, your account will be locked.
The company also states that no account data will be lost if the account is locked.
Users will be able to regain access to their account by turning on Facebook to protect and 2fa.
Explained: What is Facebook protecting and why it’s important
