After Mark Zuckerberg’s own personal Facebook page was hacked back in January, Facebook introduced HTTPS for all users but did not make the HTTPS connection mandatory. Unfortunately by default Facebook was serving pages over the unencrypted HTTP protocol. Now, as the social network began offering all its pages over HTTPS, Facebook joined sites like Twitter and Gmail that also made this decision.
The HTTPS rollout is not instant. Facebook will be available only via HTTPS starting with North America this week. Security experts worldwide welcome Facebook’s decision especially since most of the social engineering attacks targeted Facebook accounts. Although the switch will not stop hack attacks it will certainly ensure an increased degree of security. HTTPS also means Facebook will be a little slower but the speed change might be so small that users will not notice it at all.
