Facebook users have recently been warned to activate a new online security feature.
Many have ignored it thinking it was a spam message designed to gain access to their personal information.
However it is genuine and users could end up being locked from their own social media account if they don't turn it on by a certain date. The new feature is called Facebook Protect and is actually designed to protect certain users against threats from hackers, reports WalesOnline.
It was created at first to help political candidates and officials stay safe from cyber attacks and misinformation. Now it's since been expanded to the wider Facebook community.
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The message, sent out as an email from the address security@facebookmail.com, reads: "Your account has the potential to reach a lot more people than an average Facebook user.
"Hackers are often motivated to attack accounts that have a lot of followers, run important Pages, or hold some community significance.
"To help defend against these targeted attacks, we require Facebook Protect for your account. We’ve already turned on advanced login protections for your account.
"To fully enable Facebook Protect, we’ll check your account for vulnerabilities, and help you resolve them. Note: Facebook Protect isn’t available to everyone on Facebook. We require stronger security for your account because it has the potential to reach a large audience."
Also sent out as a pop-up message on Facebook itself, the instruction goes on to add that to activate Facebook Protect, the user is required to click on the link provided.
And a number of users have already found themselves locked out of their accounts, their specified deadline having passed. What is more, some have been unable to regain access even after following instructions on how to do so.
"I got locked out from Facebook indefinitely today because I didn’t respond to emails from Facebook (that looked like a scam) about its new Facebook Protect system, which I was required to enable by today," one user posted.
Another user said: "This Facebook Protect thing is so annoying because it’s not letting me turn it on and I need Facebook for work so I’m really hoping Facebook fixes the stupid code."
Unfortunately, if you have been locked out there's nothing you can do but wait until the team at Facebook has resolved the ongoing issues with its new Protect system. Hopefully you'll be able to enable the additional security measurements and log back into your account in the coming days.
