Someone Important Was Hacked On Facebook

We have all heard the horror stories about Internet security lapses, hackers and the like. It appears that the CEO and founder of Facebook had his profile hacked last week. This news might be the true justification for the man I met in the store this week who claimed that he would never have a computer. Most of us will never go that far, but we are all interested in have some real assurances of security online.

Mark Zuckerberg Takes Steps to Insure Facebook Security

The weakest point of security which allows a hacker is to gain access to an account is through capturing traffic on an insecure network, like a public Wi-Fi hotspot. This means that on an open public Wi-Fi network (such as at Starbucks or other cafes). In such situations it is possible for a hacker to gain access to your data as it moves through the network. Doing things that involve passwords and credit card transactions is risky in these settings.

Facebook has introduced a new security feature that all users can access. The new feature will cause your access to Facebook to be over a secure "https" connection such as you would encounter on a secure online shopping cart (notice padlock on lower right corner). To enable this feature click on Account in the upper right corner and select Account Settings. On that page click on Account Security.  The first option at the top will be Secure Browsing (https). Click that, then hit the blue Save button just below it. Now you will be using Facebook over a secure connection.

The secure "https" connection is much more secure than an ordinary connection. This is good news for Facebook members who want to use their accounts on a public, unsecured network..  The wisest course of action would be to avoid doing any credit card transactions on a public network regardless of having a secure "https" connection through the site. And it is probably not necessary to use this secure option if you are at home on your own network (the use of it may slow down your browsing experience).