Oct 24, 2021 23:00:00

Why is the Facebook and Twitter account unfreezing process so complicated?

If an SNS account such as Facebook or Twitter is hijacked or suspended, complicated procedures are required to restore it to its original state, and in some cases it may not be restored. The Washington Post summarizes the complexity of such account-related procedures.

How to get back into a hacked Facebook account --The Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/09/29/hacked-social-media-account/

Facebook and Twitter SNS accounts may become unavailable for a variety of reasons, including 'forgot your password,' 'account suspension from the operating company,' and 'someone hijacked your account.' Various SNSs prepare an account recovery process for users whose accounts have become unavailable, but the recovery process often requires two-factor authentication using telephone and submission of identity verification documents, sometimes ' You may also encounter situations such as 'I do not receive a reply when I contact the SNS operator' or 'The account hijacker overwrites my authentication information and the application does not proceed'.

'Any system we build to help users regain their accounts can be exploited by an attacker,' said Nathaniel Glacier, head of security policy at Facebook. Claims that the complexity is to protect users from attackers. At the same time, Glacier said, 'This is an industry-wide problem,' pointing out that overly complex processes need improvement.

In response to the fact that there are many users who cannot recover their accounts due to the account recovery process that is too complicated, some companies are developing 'services that assist the account recovery process'. For example, the account recovery assistance company '

Hacked ' offers Facebook's account recovery assistance service at a regular price of $ 499 (about 57,000 yen), and it is appealing that it helped more than 2000 users a year. According to Hacked founder Jonas Bork Grevink, Hacked isn't a hacker, but rather a technique that uses inquiries such as 'If you ask Facebook seven times a day, it's easy to respond.' It will assist the user.

'It's very difficult to recover an account after it's been hijacked. The most important thing is to take steps to prevent it from being hijacked,' said Bork Grevink. We recommend that you enable the anti-hacking function of. In addition, Anna Larkin, a web content analyst at security company Kaspersky, is calling for measures such as 'use different passwords for each service' and 'do not click links in messages from strangers'.