Facebook: HTTPS Support

Back in January Facebook added the ability to access their site via HTTP Secure (HTTPS) connection, Which drastically increases security for users. HTTPS provides a combination of the HTTP and SSL protocols, enabling encrypted communication between your computer and a web server. Without it you’re exposed to sniffing attacks on the network; for example, if you’re using a public Wi-Fi to access Facebook via plain HTTP, someone using the Firesheep add-on for Firefox can easily retrieve your data. HTTPS makes it a lot harder to do that.

The feature is available as an option on the Account Settings page.

Those who are concerned about online security probably know that it was possible to access Facebook via HTTPS for quite some time now, for example using the HTTPS Everywhere Firefox add-on, but some of Facebook’s features, for example chat and photo uploads, did not work properly over HTTPS.

Unfortunately, even Facebook’s implementation of the protocol will not be perfect. “Some Facebook features, including many third-party applications, are not currently supported in HTTPS, if you choose to enable HTTPS, you should know that it will slow down your Facebook experience, as encrypted pages take longer to load.

Thomas Fraley
I am a tech enthusiast whose main focus is making technology easy again for everyone. Educated with degrees in network engineering and project management. I've worked in the entertainment industry for a decade as a director of information technology for global companies pioneering the way. A few years ago I decided to give back and have been helping young entrepreneur startups off on the right foot.
www.lifewithtech.net
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