The program was offered to political officials during the 2020 U.S. elections. Now, Axios reports that Facebook will be offering the tool to other types of users whose accounts are at a greater risk of being compromised, such as journalists, human rights advocates, and activists.
Facebook’s head of security policy, Nate Gleicher, told Axios that Protect comes with real-time monitoring of potential hacking attempts and other security features, such as hardware keys to enable two-factor authentication.
Gleicher said more than 70 percent of people involved with the 2020 election had two-factor authentication turned on and that Facebook is bolstering its account protection features in the coming year since compromised accounts can be used for malicious purposes.
“We know that certain people such as candidates, elected officials or staff can be targeted by bad actors on social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram,” Facebook writes on page discussing the platform. “By enrolling, we’ll help these accounts (1) adopt stronger account security protections, like two-factor authentication, and (2) monitor for potential hacking threats.”