Facebook Notifies Users of Potential Nation-State Attacks

An anonymous reader writes: Facebook has announced its plans to notify users if they are under threat from state-sponsored cyberattacks. The social media giant proposes a notification system triggered when its algorithms suspect nation-state activity. The alert will pop up on the user's Facebook page, warning them of the danger and advising them to switch on login approvals, which require the individual to enter a security code sent to them from Facebook.

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[Austerity Empowers]

Naw man, it means the grass is good, moo

Service that sells personal info of narcissists

[Anonymous Coward]

A service that sells personal info of narcissists is willing to tell them they are important in exchange for their cell phone number?

Color me shocked!

Notifications?

[MagickalMyst]

I consider someone spying on me/my accounts without a warrant to be a targeted attack.

So does this notification include activity by Facebook and the good ol' U.S. of A? NSA?

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[MagickalMyst]

Perhaps i'll be able to post the complete un-adulterated copy of an email sent to me by Facebook detailing how a nation-state (USA) is spying on me and attacking me via my (almost never used, lame-ass) Facebook account, on Slashdot.

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[MagickalMyst]

"Expecting privacy on something that is in the public domain such as the internet is just naive."

Why are you attempting to post anonymously then?

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[Anubis IV]

I was gonna suggest that you should just change your password to "governments_and_law_enforcement_are_not_permitted_to_snoop_on_this_account". Turns out that it works like a charm, since it's well known that cops and government agents have to tell you they're a cop if you ask, "You a cop?" and that they aren't allowed to access data that you post publicly if it says it's off-limits to them.

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[zlives]

i am glad that works for you.

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[Anubis IV]

They can and will lie to you if asked that question.

Exactly. It appears that my comment is coming dangerously close to being an example of Poe's Law [wikipedia.org], minus the extremism.

But yes, as you said, it's BS. That was the reason I mentioned it in my comment, in fact. Moreover, this is Facebook we're talking about, so it's safe to assume that they're salting and hashing their user's passwords, meaning that my suggestion to set your password to a message intended for reading is even more nonsensical.

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[DeVilla]

Now I know you're a troll. I looked up Poe's Law and it has nothing to do with the Police being required to tell you who they are. I think that was like in the Declaration of Independence or something.

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[Anubis IV]

Articles of Confederation, I believe, but they still have authority in the South over the Constitution since they came first! Oh, and Texas retained its right to secede when it joined the US. Don't let them tell you otherwise.

Yeah, right ...

[gstoddart]

Sorry, but Facebook is an entity who I fully believe will lie to you if it means they can get more information about you.

ZOMG, teh nation states are the hax0rs, give us your cell phone number, three additional email accounts and their passwords, your credit card number, and the names of your parents.

I believe this will be purely FUD and other bullshit, which will somehow benefit Facebook.

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[Shadow IT Ninja]

I don't see how this could benefit Facebook. It just highlights how dangerous all that data about you and your friends really is and how much the ordinary person does have to hide. My guess is that they are trying to appease various US ally governments, especially the British. If you had watched the BBC over the last decade, you would know that they consider Facbook to be a tool that can be exploited by terrorists. The British military recommends against their soldiers using Facebook and if they do, to

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[phantomfive]

I don't see how this could benefit Facebook.

Because they have your phone number.

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[thegarbz]

Sorry, but Facebook is an entity who I fully believe will lie to you if it means they can get more information about you.

Why? By all accounts they have always been very up front and honest about the information they collect on you and what they do with that information. Besides they have no need to lie. 1 billion people are literally lining up to give them information and the population in general doesn't seem to care about what information the corporations have about them.

They have no reason to lie.

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[nitehawk214]

Plausible deniability.

FB User: "Hey, how did all of my personal details and stuff I uploaded to Facebook end up all over the internet."
FB: "Sorry, it was nation-state actors, nothing we could do."

meow

[Tablizer]

Oh no, Putin's after Fluffy the Kitten again!

It's just an updated feature

[willworkforbeer]

There's already an alert system to signal you that FaceBook is invading your privacy....
Whenever you see the iconic FaceBook logo on a page, heads up.

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[Penguinisto]

crap - posting to canx bad mod...

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[sound+vision]

Does anyone know if not allowing scripts from facebook.com (as with Noscript for example) is sufficient to stop the tracking?

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[tekrat]

Just stand your ground like Cliven Bundy!
He owes a million bucks and hasn't paid a dime!

Excellent timing.

[ilsaloving]

This is exactly what we'll need if the Conservatives are voted in again.

While they are doing this

[jmcwork]

Code that was embedded in a cute kitten video is crawling through Facebook collecting all kinds of data on you. (Am I starting to sound paranoid?)

Defective by Design

[Anonymous Coward]

Considering that Facebook is one of the FBI's greatest ally, it should warn you of "Nation State activity" each time you log in, since the entire database can be queried remotely by the Nation State. Furthermore, given that NSA Letters can gag Facebook, we can demonstrate that their pop-up about being targeted by Nation States is defective by design.

Cry Wolf syndrome

[AnalogDiehard]

There have been so many FB privacy hoaxes mega-shared like "FB will reset your preferences so all your personal data is shared with third party marketers" that I stopped taking any of them seriously. Too many "cry wolf" syndromes. I have very little private info on my FB page - I refuse to divulge my employer, home address, high school, college, birth date, etc. My occupation is even listed as "professional crash test dummy". I refuse to put anything on there of value to marketers, and it would be usele

Who will protect us from the Red Menace?

[nickweller]

Will these 'state-sponsored cyberattacks' run on Apple OS X or Linux?