Facebook will tell you if the government is snooping on your account

Facebook accounts are notorious for being hacked, either through poor passwords or phishing scams. So to help keep its users safe, the social network has announced that it will soon start sending banner notifications to anyone whose account may have been compromised by the government or if Facebook suspects someone is trying to hack into it.

In a blog post about the new security precaution, Facebook says the privacy of its users is the most important thing:

While we have always taken steps to secure accounts that we believe to have been compromised, we decided to show this additional warning if we have a strong suspicion that an attack could be government-sponsored. We do this because these types of attacks tend to be more advanced and dangerous than others, and we strongly encourage affected people to take the actions necessary to secure all of their online accounts.

Facebook also notes that these notifications do not mean the site as a whole has been compromised.

So here’s to hoping you never see one of these notifications, but if you do, then maybe it’s time to change the password you’ve had since you opened your account.

➤ Notifications for targeted attacks [Facebook]