Facebook , facing 600,000 hackers every day, steps up security
Every 24 hours the Facebook website receives around 600,000 logins from impostors trying to access users' messages, photos and other personal information.
Facebook steps up security
The astonishing figure - the first time the social network has revealed how it is bombarded by hackers every day - was revealed in a Facebook blog post announcing new security measures to stop this kind of breach.
Security experts want users to take greater care in choosing passwords and clicking on offers supposedly from "Facebook friends".
Graham Cluley, of security firm Sophos, spelled it out, "When a Facebook login is compromised, it means that someone else, the hacker, has taken control of that account."
When a hacker takes over a user's Facebook account, they can post images, send messages and access all of that person's private information, he explained.
The first of the new security measures says Computer Weekly is aimed at helping Facebook users who are locked out of their accounts by hackers.
The "Trusted Friends" tool will enable users to nominate three to five trusted friends to be sent login codes if a person is locked out of their account by a hacker who has changed the password.
If someone needs to login to Facebook but cannot access their e-mail account, Facebook will send login codes to their nominated friends.
A second new security measure is a facility for setting passwords for apps. This means members do not have to use the same logins for different third-party services they access via Facebook.
"It's certainly a good idea not to use your Facebook password with anybody other than Facebook - so it's good to hear that Facebook will be offering this new privacy option," wrote Cluley in a blog post.