Facebook wants users’ mobile number for more Security

                      In a bid to improve security on Facebook, the social networking website is now asking each of its more than 900 million active users to provide it with their mobile phone numbers.

               The move comes in the wake of much-publicized password hacks at the other well-known networking sites like LinkedIn and eHarmony.

  

                Eventually millions of Facebook users have already seen a link at the top of their news feed requesting them to follow some simple security tips.

                Those that click on the link are led to the site's security page. Then they are asked to pick a unique password and given a tutorial on facing the online scams.

                They are then also requested to provide their mobile number for secure account recovery. This, Facebook official claims, works because when a user confirms their mobile number it allows the site to automatically wipe their password in the event of their account being hacked.

                 The social network site would then surely send a text message to the user informing that their password has been changed. This, the site reasons, would be preferable to sending the user and email because many of these are ignored as assumed junk and get deleted.

                  Facebook today said the desktop security message, already seen by millions of users in the US, will be on all accounts in the next few days. However, it claims that the security update has nothing to do with the latest LinkedIn hack.

                  The social network for professionals, LinkedIn admitted to being hacked, but did not reveal the exact figure, although 6.5 million of its 161 million users' passwords appeared online on a website.

                  The website added that the lists published online only contained passwords and not logins, but that in all probability any hacker would have them too.

                  And California-based eHarmony, one of the world's most popular online dating websites, also admitted earlier this month that the passwords of some of its users were hacked and published online.

                  The company, which has over 20 million active users, confirmed that passwords had been compromised but did not reveal the exact number, although some tech experts have put the figure at 1.5 millions.

                   So, it is quite clear now that Facebook is updating their security quite repeatedly to protect their users from hackers, which is a pretty good move indeed. They surely launch a Google-like “two step verification method” sooner or later.