Facebook adds verification procedure for compromised accounts

If you've ever had your Facebook account taken over and used to spam your friends, or if you've ever been on the receiving end of that spam, you might be happy to hear that Facebook is actually doing something about it. In a blog post on Friday, the social network announced the rollout out of new verification procedures for logging into an account that appears to be compromised. When Facebook thinks an account is being used to send spam, the owner will get an email directing him or her to a new verification page to confirm ownership of the account and log in.

The verification page serves the dual purpose of letting the user know how the account was taken over - likely through a phishing attack using a fake site that looks just like Facebook, according to the message. Moving the verification process to the Facebook site and automating it should streamline the process of getting your account back, and hopefully give you some tips to keep you from exposing it again in the future. It's a good new feature, but I can't help wondering about the extent of the increase in spam that probably prompted it.

Tags: facebook, security, social-networking, spam, verification