Two-factor verification on Facebook – why is it mandatory?

Regardless of what your business is, whether you choose to run it entirely online or as a physical site, a social media presence is a must. Facebook is still the most popular of these, the "place" where if you're not there, then you practically don't exist. The benefits are undeniable, however, the dangers also lurk from every virtual corner.

More and more reports of phishing or hacking attacks, stolen websites and business profiles are appearing online.

Complaints and calls for help to recover a stolen or hacked account appear daily in almost every virtual community. When it comes to a personal account, the situation is very unpleasant, but the consequences are much more manageable. It's certainly considerably simpler to call your friends and explain to them what has happened than to reach out to that entire follower base, usually a large number of them strangers, and let them know that your business page has suffered.

It is not easy to answer the question Which damage is more unpleasant - the damage to your company's image or the financial damage? However, if you fall victim to a phishing attack, although difficult, there is a very high probability that your bank will recover the lost money. Reputational wounds, however, will be harder to heal, in most cases leaving serious scars.

But there are ways to counter this virtual apocalypse. Two-factor verification on Facebook is one of the easiest, and best practices here.

What's more, lest you find yourself the hero in one of the very vaguely stroked nightmares above, the use of two-factor verification is a must. It doesn't take a lot of time, but it can save a significant amount of headaches and literally save your business's finances and reputation because it allows you to catch any fraudulent or malicious use of your Facebook account and pages in time.

How does the tool itself work?

The login to your account is usually a username and password which, in the case of business accounts, is usually known by more than one person. However, this data is saved on the computers and mobile devices that are commonly used for access.

However, when a device unknown to Facebook wants access to your account, it's important to check whether it's really an authorised person or a rogue. This is where the "magic" of two-factor authentication happens.

To make sure the social network knows it's really you, you can add an additional access code quite easily, with just a few clicks in the settings. It is obtained in one of the following three ways:

• as an SMS to the phone number saved in the account;
• by tapping a security key on another registered compatible device - so-called "push" identification, which is considered the most secure as it is virtually impossible to use by third parties;
• using apps like Google Authenticator or LastPass.

You can easily set your preferred method of additional identification in your account settings menu. The exact way is as follows:

• go to Settings;
• From the Account center menu on the left, select Password and security;
• Select Two-factor authentication;
• select the method you wish to use and continue forward until the procedure is complete.

If you need further clarification, the whole process is very well described in both English and Bulgarian in the Facebook Help Center.

The first two options are usually preferred.

They don't require installing additional apps or learning them, they're easy and fast.

However, be careful which phone numbers you associate with your business account - make sure they are only those of trusted employees to avoid internal sabotage. Best to use "push" notifications on work devices.

Additional authentication can successfully protect you from phishing attacks and account hacking.

Sponsoring posts and ads on Facebook is the norm for a successful business these days. However, you need to protect your company's finances as much as possible, which often proves difficult, especially given how inventive cybercriminals are in terms of design and authenticity.

Two-factor authentication will prevent any bad actor from logging into your account. It will also help you identify as quickly as possible if you yourself have been tricked into typing your name and password into a copy of the social network rather than the real Facebook. In this case, you will also be able to immediately change the account password and take all necessary measures to avoid the phishing attack and data theft.

It is very important to use the additional identification right from the launch of Facebook ads to ensure maximum control over who has access to the account and, therefore, the accounts associated with the social network.

This will save you a lot of time and heavy communication with institutions.

In the event of a phishing attack or other cybercrime against your business, you are obliged to notify not only your bank, but also the police. However, this involves a lot of time, writing long explanations on paper in each institution, additional tension. All this can be avoided precisely by using additional identification.

The result is protected company finances and employee morale, time and resources that are free to put into the business activity itself.

Facebook's two-factor identification also helps in cases of malicious actions by a current or former employee.

People have their own experiences and subjective judgments about their employers - both about individuals and about companies in general. However, being active users of social media themselves, employees know full well that Facebook content is very important to an organization's image, and the wrong one can do irreparable damage.

It is possible that in an emotional outburst of desire for revenge, a dismissed or working but disgruntled colleague will try to post something or steal your profile to defame the business. Particularly in larger teams, finding someone to give them the account password or see it "accidentally" isn't very difficult.

However, two-factor authentication only allows access to certain compatible devices or sends codes to specific phone numbers. This makes stopping an intruder from accessing a business account almost certain. Even if it doesn't happen, however, the culprit can easily be found and penalized, as the social network keeps track of which devices the business account was accessed from.

It is equally important to use additional authentication for your personal Facebook profile.

Very often small businesses link professional profiles and pages to that of the owner. However, this is only one of the reasons.

Cybercrimes are also increasingly targeting ordinary citizens precisely because they don't protect their social media accounts for various reasons - they were made a long time ago when it wasn't relevant, they don't post sponsored posts, they don't think it will happen to them...

However, hygiene in terms of protecting your own personal data and space on the web is a must, just as it is a must to lock your apartment door when you go out or when you come home. You do it every time, right?

Think of two-factor authentication specifically as the key to your Facebook habitat. Once you get into this habit for your personal account, you'll be just as accountable to your business account without it weighing you down.