Facebook has heard the complaints and appears to be moving towards appeasing those users who are worried about the privacy and security concerns of the world’s most popular social networking site. Two recent updates were rolled out to assuage some of these concerns.
App Passwords – probably the most comprehensive of the two, this one is the quiet change that everyone is underestimating. First, it allows you to set unique passwords for one or all of your Facebook apps, keeping them separate from your Facebook account.
This does a couple of things to your account, security-wise. First, it allows you to keep apps separate from your social network, which means that someone who gains access to one of your apps nefariously will not be able to get into your actual FB account.
Second, and maybe more important, it allows you to shut down an app without hoping that their unsubscribe button works. All you have to do is close out the password’s access to your account and the app no longer has access.
The part that gets missed? This also gives you a back door into your Facebook account should you forget your password. You can access on public systems or open networks using this alternate password. This means that if you’re signing up for something that requires you to “log in” using your Facebook account, you can do it with an alternate password instead of your main one, which keeps your account secure.
Trusted Friends – is another addition that allows you another good way to regain access to your Facebook account should it be hacked, your password gets lost, etc. It allows you to designate friends you trust with your account. Then, if you can’t gain access, you can opt to have it send password change codes to your Trusted Friends. They can then forward them to you or use them on your behalf to change your password.
Both of these are a good step forward. They don’t quite cover everything, of course, but they show that Facebook is at least concerned about user perception.
