Muscat – A new feature in Facebook is making many users anxious. Called Facebook Protect, it asks people to make use of the new feature by turning on the two-factor authentication, which provides additional security to the account.
Although an easy process wherein users merely need to follow the instructions with the final stage being verification of the account by either scanning a QR code or by receiving a text SMS code in the registered mobile number, it is alarming people because of numerous scams associated with such updates.
Ahmed Salim, a 24-year-old student, said, “Besides my FB account, I also run some independent pages on architecture desig- ns. I have over 2,000 friends, so initially I was sceptical to update as these days we get random messages from many sources. But after reading reports, I decided to use the feature. It is easy, fast and simple to implement. I would recommend all to do so. It adds some extra security.”
His friend Shakeer Balushi was initially “lazy and ignored the notification”. However, when he was warned that his account wo-uld be locked, he read up the notification and also asked some of his friends who had already implemented it. “I gathered that the programme is designed for users’ safety.”
A statement from Facebook said, ‘We know that certain people in the public eye can become a target for account compromise attempts on social media platforms, including Facebook. Accounts that face increased risk may need additional protection, that’s why we created Facebook Protect. It helps high-target accounts adopt stronger security protection by simplifying security features such as two-factor authentication.
‘It also provides additional security protection for people’s accounts and pages, including monitoring for potential hacking threats.’