Facebook has begun testing a security feature that will alert users when the company suspects their account are being impersonated. The feature, the social network's 'troll detection' engine, intends to cut down on spam and spear-phishing attacks.
When the company notices another user who contains a name and profile picture that is used by another user, Facebook will send an alert asking the victim to use personal information to confirm that their account has been impersonated.
Facebook has struggled to contain scam and phishing attacks. On Thursday, researchers noticed attackers who threatened users with page removal over “infringing content” in an email that then directed users to a Facebook app page asking victims to confirm identifying information. Impersonated social media accounts have been used to harass users and sextortion.
The social media company has rolled out several new security initiatives in recent months. In October, Facebook began to notify users when it was suspected that nation-state attackers had targeted their accounts. In January, the social media company integrated Orbot,a proxy app developed by the Guardian Project, into Facebook's Android application.