Meta recently announced the expansion of its Facebook Protect service, which provides specialized security services for a number of Facebook accounts targeted by hackers – to other areas.
Meta’s security chief, Nathaniel Gleicher, said the tech giant will launch its Facebook Protect service in more than 50 countries before the new year.
The program began in 2018 and became more prominent during the 2020 US election cycle to include human rights activists, journalists, and government officials who are high-level targets of hackers. Similarly, Google and Microsoft have developed identical programs for groups targeted by both cybercriminals and government hackers.
This development coincides with the release of Meta’s Adversarial Threat Report, which discussed various threats disrupted by the tech giant’s security team. Meta said it was able to defuse malicious networks in Italy, France, Vietnam, Palestine, Poland, Belarus and China.
Gleicher said that of the 1.5 million accounts already registered, about 950,000 use two-factor authentication. He also explained that there is no need for action unless the user is asked to log in.
Facebook plans to launch the program in the United States, India and Portugal, among others.
Facebook and parent company Meta have been heavily criticised for their security measures and a general failure to protect their users from malicious activity.