14 DAY TRIAL // Keeping your online accounts safe isn't easy. Often, people will choose convenience over security. And even with the best security practices things can go wrong. More often than not, when an attacker gets ahold of one of your accounts, you'll be locked out.
Now, Facebook is offering you a way of getting back access to your account by expanding the availability of Trusted Friends, now called Trusted Contacts.
Trusted Contacts makes it possible for you to designate several Facebook friends who will be able to help you get back into your account if you lose the password or a hacker takes over it.
The idea is simple. The friends you choose will be able to grant you access to your account, based on the fact that they can verify that you are indeed who you claim to be and that you have a right to access that account.
The feature has been around since 2011, but it's now becoming available to all users. They'll be able to pick three to five contacts for the job.
Preferably, these are people you know in real life, that you can call or meet in person, or at least have an alternative method of contact with other than Facebook. They should also be people, as Facebook puts it, that you would trust with the keys to your house.
"Once you've set up your trusted contacts, if you ever have trouble logging in, you'll have your trusted contacts as an option to help. You just need to call your trusted contacts and let them know you need their help to regain access to your account," Facebook explains.
"Each of them can get a security code for you with instructions on how to help you. Once you get three security codes from your trusted contacts, you can enter them into Facebook to recover your account," it adds.