Facebook to Warn of Government Attacks

Facebook is to warn users when it believes a government is trying to hack their account. The company is giving few details about how it will detect such attempts, or which governments may be involved.

The warnings will appear when Facebook has reason to believe an "account has been targeted or compromised by an attacker suspected of working on behalf of a nation-state."

According to Facebook, the message is not meant as an indication that Facebook's own servers or systems have been compromised - whether by a government or anyone else.

Early Warning System

Instead, Facebook will warn users that the breach is likely due to a computer or device associated with the account having been hit by malware. The theory is that if a nation state is sponsoring an attack (oftentimes through malware), preventing it may be almost impossible. Therefore, the next best thing is to make sure the victim is aware of the breach as soon as possible. (Source: gizmodo.com)

As well as keeping the assessment system under wraps, Facebook isn't saying whether it is looking for attacks from specific governments or using more generic criteria. Initial feedback from users suggests there's some skepticism about whether this warning policy will apply to suspected breaches that could be tracked back to the US government.

Facebook Won't Explain Reasons

Facebook says that it won't usually be able to explain it believes a breach is because of a state-sponsored attack, noting that to do so would compromise "the integrity of our methods and processes". However, it says it will only issue the warning "where the evidence strongly supports our conclusion." (Source: facebook.com)

The theory behind the warnings certainly makes sense, and it does appear that Facebook wants to have a setup by which such warning should be so rare that if you get one, you really do want to take notice immediately. The problem is that it may be tough getting people to think of a social network as a source of reliable security warnings; plus, there is danger that this could simply create yet another variant of message to include in phishing attacks.

What's Your Opinion?

Is Facebook right to issue what it believes to be state-sponsored attack warnings? Do you believe it has the ability to really tell when a government is involved? If you hadn't read this article (or found out about the story elsewhere), would you have believed such a message was genuine if you ever saw it?