Facebook announces new security features - College of Charleston Libraries

Facebook has announced several new security features for users of their service.

First, they are implementing one time passwords.  Soon you will be able to text ‘otp’ to 32665 on your cell phone and they will text you back with a one time password that will be good to access your account for 20 minutes.  This is great benefit for people who are using a computer they don’t trust to keep their normal password safe.  To use this feature, you’ll need to add your cell phone to your account information on facebook.

Second, facebook is adding the ability to see what devices are logging into your account.  Under the ‘Account Security‘ section of your ‘Account Settings‘ page, you’ll be able to see what computers have recently logged into your account.  This way if you think someone else knows your password, you can check to see if a different computer is logging into your account.  also, if you only use the same computer to check facebook, you can set facebook to notify you via SMS or email if a new device logs into your account.

A full explanation of these new features is available on the facebook blog.