Every day Facebook notes 600,000 fraudulent account login attempts
This week’s statement from social network giant Facebook reports that hackers use stolen username and password credentials to break into at least 600,000 accounts every day on the social network, but only to be stopped by the social network’s extensive anti-fraud measures.
One of those measures is Facebook’s new "Trusted Friends" password restoration technique. According to the UK-based computer security firm Sophos, the first one to pick up on the number of attempted intrusions into Facebook member accounts, "Facebook ID theft is a serious problem which lays the foundation for all manner of other cyber misbehavior. Recently, msnbc.com reported on a woman who sent $2,000 to a criminal, believing she was communicating with her sister through Facebook chat. Other common scams include criminals hijacking friends' accounts and trying to talk users into coughing up money."
In addition, the Facebook blog reveals that "only 0.06 percent of 1 billion logins per day are compromised," adding that the site uses numerous tactics to back off intrusions, including challenging would-be hackers with additional authentication questions, such as asking users to identify friends in pictures.
In conclusion, the company spokesman Barry Schnitt said: "600,000 times a day, we stop a bad guy from getting access to an account even though he has guessed, phished, or stolen the login and password of an account. This is something we're very proud of."
