Facebook site says 600,000 fraudulent account logins attempted every day

Sunday, October 30, 2011 : Social networking site says 600,000 fraudulent account logins attempted every day
 
The efficacy of anti-fraudster Facebook measures was illustrated this week when the site revealed that hackers using stolen username and password credentials try to break into at least 600,000 accounts every day on the social network.
 
The revelation was emerged in a new security announcement issued by the company Thursday describing the virtues of its new "Trusted Friends" password restoration technique. UK-based computer security firm Sophos was the first to pick up on the astonishing number of attempted intrusions into Facebook member accounts.
 
The Facebook blog entry covering the attempts includes an infographic explaining the success of the network's efforts to beat back spam, account hijacking, and other ills.  Facebook claims an impressive counter-measures record, revealing that "only 0.06 percent of 1 billion logins per day are compromised."
 
Among other tactics, the site challenges would-be hackers with additional authentication questions, such as asking users to identify friends in pictures, said spokesman Barry Schnitt.
 
"600,000 times a day, we stop a bad guy from getting access to an account even though he has guessed, phished, or stolen the login and password of an account," Schnitt said. "This is something we're very proud of."
 
Sophos' Graham Cluley said in a post Friday:
 
"Facebook ID theft is a serious problem which lays the foundation for all manner of other cyber misbehavior. Recently, msnbc.com reported on a woman who sent $2,000 to a criminal, believing she was communicating with her sister through Facebook chat. Other common scams include criminals hijacking friends' accounts and trying to talk users into coughing up money."