I’m Baaaack …
Back in July I described how Facebook banned my account with no warning. I had sent messages to disabled@fb.com and appeals@facebook.com but I had low expectations of anything happening.
But today, something did happen – I received a text from FB saying “ … We think your account was hacked, for next steps login … “ I did so and, lo and behold!, the FB account verification process started. In an hour I was seemingly reinstated, with a new password and 2FA. Now I have an idea of what happened …
First, something I was able to do before my account was revived was download my FB data. Included there is a page titled “Security and Login Information/Account Activity”. That page showed on July 8, the day my account was banned, a number of session updates from the following regions:
- Region of Murcia
- Comunidad Valenciana
- Cataluña
- Andalusia
- Comunidad de Madrid
A session update indicates a new authentication token was issued – someone from Spain highjacked my account.
Now that I can login, I see more of the story. This is from my FB notifications:
A long time ago I activated FB Ads,to promote Fractured Symmetry. Haven’t used them in years. It seems whoever hijacked my account was using it to post ads. Now, my own payments source was never billed – I was never charged $266.
What are the lessons here? Well, when I last set my FB password 2023 or so, it seemed strong enough to me – 7 characters, mixed-case, alphabetic and symbol. Since it was just FB and not involved in money – or so I assumed, forgetting about my own ads from 2018 – I wasn’t concerned. Also the password was easy to enter by hand. However just now googling “password strength” I see such a password can be cracked in 43 seconds. My new 15-character password should take centuries to crack. 2FA should also close the loop on hijackers. I would say all of anyone’s accounts, so matter how “lightweight” they seem, need the same level of security discipline.
I will say my thoughts on the enshittification of Facebook have not changed. But I will check it occasionally, just to keep up with a dispersed set of friends/acquaintances.
I’ll close with this final thought on Spain:
Till next time …