The Facebook Blog

Facebook provides a number of ways to help you protect yourself and your account, and today we are announcing new features to help make your experience on Facebook more secure.

First, we're launching one-time passwords to make it safer to use public computers in places like hotels, cafes or airports. If you have any concerns about security of the computer you're using while accessing Facebook, we can text you a one-time password to use instead of your regular password.  

One of the best defenses against security threats is a good offense, and we want to help you take the offensive by having the latest security software installed on your computer. Today, we are announcing a year-long partnership with McAfee to offer all 350 million people who use Facebook the ability to download a six-month subscription to McAfee security software at no cost, along with a special discount once the six months are over.

You can take advantage of this offer by visiting the Protect Your PC tab on the McAfee Page on Facebook.

We're... committed to doing everything we can to help you protect your account and make your experience on Facebook as safe and enjoyable as possible. We invest in dedicated teams and advanced technical systems that detect and block suspicious behavior. When we find a message with a link to a fake login page or other malicious website, we prevent it from being sent and delete all instances of it from the site. We also work with third parties to get malicious sites added to browser blacklists or removed completely.

For the rare case in which an account is compromised, we've developed a unique process that requires the account owner to take steps to secure the account and learn security best practices. We've also incorporated custom McAfee software into this process for people identified as having infected computers. Now, if your computer is infected, you will be asked to run a scan like the one shown below and clean it before accessing Facebook. We're not aware of another free Internet service that takes this much responsibility for helping people keep their accounts secure.



We have a lot of control over security measures on Facebook. However, we don't control other websites and services you visit that might infect your computer. For this reason, we recommend that you install updated security software, which you can now do at no cost through this partnership, and that you always follow these safe practices:

In our continued battle against cyber criminals, one of the biggest challenges we face is helping people whose accounts have been compromised by spammers understand how it happened and how to fix the problem. The vast majority of people who use Facebook have never experienced a security problem. For the small number who do, knowing how to fight back is key.

It can be an embarrassing experience to log in to Facebook to find that unauthorized messages have been sent from your account and then face questions from friends who have received spam from... you.

We've spent the last few months improving the way to guide people through the process of regaining access to their account after it's been compromised and used to send spam. Currently, we send emails explaining what happened and provide links to remedy the situation. Now we're moving towards a new model that also involves clear and simple steps taken within Facebook itself. In doing so, we can ensure that the person logging in is the true owner of the account, thereby preventing hackers from using it to send spam in the future.

Going forward, we'll continue to send a notification email to the tiny percentage of people whose Facebook accounts have been compromised. What's new is that when these people try to access the site, they'll first see a page explaining what happened, as shown below.

Next, they'll go through a quick verification process to ensure that they're the legitimate owner of the account in question. Finally, we'll help them pick a new, secure password and refer them to the Facebook Security Page, which includes helpful tips and information on how to be safe on Facebook and across the Internet.

This new change will help us not only fight spam, but also spread the word about security on Facebook. In the coming months, we'll be rolling out similar processes to address the different threats people may face. Our teams are working hard to make sure you never experience a security issue on Facebook, and in the rare case that you do, we're committed to making the process of regaining control of your account easy and informative.


Jake, a project manager for the site integrity team, hates spam but loves bacon.