ADVERTISEMENT

Facebook Is Giving Political Campaigns Higher Security Protections

Facebook is offering stepped-up account-security tools to political candidates and people who work on their campaigns.

Facebook Is Giving Political Campaigns Higher Security Protections
Facebook Inc. logo is reflected in the eyeglasses of a user in this arranged photo in San Francisco, California, U.S. (Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Facebook Inc. is offering stepped-up account-security tools to political candidates and people who work on their campaigns, aiming to help protect them from being hacked ahead of the U.S. midterm elections.

The company will let state and federal candidates, political party officials and their staff members apply for additional security protection for their accounts and pages on the social network. Facebook will also train political officials to use its existing tools, such as two-factor authentication, which requires users to have their phones to receive a verification code in order to log in.

“As we detect abuse, we will continue to share relevant information with law enforcement and other companies so we can maximize our effectiveness,” Nathaniel Gleicher, head of cybersecurity policy, said Monday in a blog post. “We are continually assessing how this pilot and our other security programs might be expanded to future elections and other users, such as government officials.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Frier in San Francisco at sfrier1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Andrew Pollack

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.