News

Instagram Fights Cybercrime With New Security Checkup Feature

Security Checkup is a new Instagram feature that helps users recover accounts which may have been compromised.

Published

3 months ago

July 21, 2021

Joanna

instagram fights cybercrime with new security checkup feature

From politicians to small business owners to regular users, it’s no secret that Instagrammers from all walks of life are being targeted by cybercriminals. Now, Instagram is finally doing something to increase the security of its users.

On its official blog, the social media giant (Instagram is the fifth largest social network in the world when ranked by the number of active users) has recently announced the launch of a new feature called Security Checkup.

instagram security checkup 1

The purpose of Security Checkup is to guide Instagram users whose accounts may have been hacked through the steps needed to secure them.

“This includes checking login activity, reviewing profile information, confirming the accounts that share login information and updating account recovery contact information such as phone number or email,” explains Instagram.

instagram security checkup 2

Of course, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, which is why Instagram recommends its users to enable two-factor authentication and login request, update their contact information, and report contact and accounts they find questionable.

instagram security checkup 3

Instagram stressed that it never sends direct messages to users. Instead, the social network communicates with its large userbase only via email, and users can see all emails from Instagram in the Emails from Instagram tab in the settings menu.

instagram security checkup 4

Likewise, users should exercise caution when messaging with people they don’t know well, even if their accounts have been verified. “Over the past few months, we’ve seen a rise in malicious accounts DMing people to try and access sensitive information like account passwords,” Instagram clarified.

Also Read: 4 Upcoming WhatsApp Updates You’re Going To Love

While the Security Checkup feature isn’t the solution some users have been hoping for, there’s no doubt that it’s a step in the right direction. Hopefully, Instagram will maintain its focus on cybersecurity and keep increasing the security of its users, helping them defend themselves against cybercriminals.

News

Facebook Will Create 10,000 Jobs In The EU To Build Its Metaverse

Facebook decided to invest in the EU because the company believes that European talent is world-leading, supported by first-class universities.

Published

1 day ago

October 21, 2021

David

facebook will create 10,000 jobs in the eu to build its metaverse

Getty Images

Facebook has announced that it wants to create 10,000 jobs in the European Union (EU) to build its metaverse, a virtual reality space in which users can interact with a computer-generated environment and other users.

The concept of the metaverse can be traced to Neal Stephenson’s 1992 cyberpunk novel Snow Crash. In the novel, the metaverse is a virtual shared space that appears to its users as an urban environment. This space is accessed through personal terminals connected to virtual reality goggles.

Sound familiar? That’s because the metaverse is quickly becoming a reality thanks to companies like Oculus, a subsidiary of Facebook, and the combined effort of developers and content creators from around the world.

By creating thousands of new high-skilled jobs within the EU over the next five years, Facebook wants to accelerate the development of the metaverse to usher in a new phase of interconnected virtual experiences, enabled by technologies like virtual and augmented reality.

“At its heart is the idea that by creating a greater sense of ‘virtual presence,’ interacting online can become much closer to the experience of interacting in person,” said Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice-president of global affairs. “The metaverse has the potential to help unlock access to new creative, social and economic opportunities”.

According to the official announcement, Facebook decided to invest in the EU because the company believes that European talent is world-leading, supported by first-class universities. Facebook also mentioned the role European policymakers are playing in shaping the internet, so it’s likely that the investment has a political dimension to it.

Also Read: How To Lock Your Facebook Profile (From Mobile & Desktop)

Aware of its tarnished reputation, the social media giant stressed that no single company would own and operate the metaverse — just like no single company owns the internet today. Of course, that doesn’t change anything about the fact that Facebook wants to play a huge role in it.

Earlier this year, Mark Zuckerberg told his employees that Facebook is becoming a metaverse company with the goal of building a set of connected social apps and supporting hardware. The recently released Horizon Workrooms remote collaboration app for the Oculus Quest 2 headset can be seen as an early piece of the much larger puzzle the metaverse will become in the future.