January 27, 2011 - 16:29 AMT
Facebook expands HTTPS protocol usage

Facebook team has developed a number of complex systems that operate behind the scenes to preserve the social network security. In addition, some advanced features have been created for additional protection, such as remote logout and one-time passwords. Moreover, Facebook is expanding HTTPS usage in order to help keep data even more secure.

Enabling this option should be considered in case of frequent use of Facebook from public Internet access points found at coffee shops, airports, libraries or schools. The option will exist as part of advanced security features, to be found in the "Account Security" section of the Account Settings page. However, encrypted pages take longer to load, so Facebook may become slower using HTTPS.

Facebook has also introduced a type of challenge-response test called a captcha. The purpose of this test is to verify that a user is a human being and not a computer trying to game the system. Traditional captchas have a number of limitations including being (at times) incredibly hard to decipher and, since they are only meant to defend against attacks by computers, vulnerable to human hackers.