Facebook now actively seeks password leaks to protect its users

Facebook knows that password leaks endanger its users, even if it's another website that's been hacked, because people tend to reuse their log-in credentials (remember that recent Dropbox issue?). That's why it has developed a process that actively monitors news of huge security breaches and scans "paste" sites like pastebin, which hackers typically use to distribute username and password dumps. Upon finding a collection of email addresses and passwords, the system uses an automated process to check them against the social network's user database. Facebook says that doesn't mean it has copies of people's passwords in plain text, though: it encrypts or hashes stolen passwords first before comparing them to similarly encrypted log-in details. In the event that the system does spot an exact log-in combination that's also used on Facebook, it walks the user through changing his password the next time he logs in.

Sound Off! Are you sticking with Facebook Messenger?

Facebook's Messenger app isn't new -- it's been around since 2011. It was up to users to decide if they wanted a separate app or if they liked exchanging messages inside the regular Facebook app. Now if users tap the message icon on Facebook, a message appears telling them to move over to Messenger. It's no longer an option; it's a requirement Facebook put in place to deliver "the best mobile messaging experience possible."

Facebook Pulls Chat Feature From Phone App

Mobile users will be forced to download a separate app if they want to continue to communicate with their Facebook friends.

Facebook has started to remove the chat feature from its main app - meaning users will have to download a separate standalone app if they want to communicate with friends.

The main Facebook application has always had a messaging tab, but from today users in several European countries - including the UK - are being notified the functionality will be pulled.

If they want to continue to chat to their friends, they will have to download the Facebook Messenger app, which like the main app is free.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is focusing on phone growth

A Facebook spokesman said: "Today we are starting to notify people that messages are moving out of the Facebook app and over to the Messenger app.

"To continue sending messages on mobile, people will need to install the Messenger app."

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg warned of the change in a public question and answer session last November.

In it, he said: "The other thing that we're doing with Messenger is making it so once you have the standalone Messenger app, we are actually taking messaging out of the main Facebook app.

WhatsApp was bought by Facebook in February

"And the reason why we're doing that is we found that having it as a second-class thing inside the Facebook app makes it so there's more friction to replying to messages, so we would rather have people using a more focused experience for that."

Messaging is one of the big battlegrounds for technology firms, with apps such as Kik, KakaoTalk and WeChat picking up millions of users.

Facebook recently bought free messaging app WhatsApp for $19bn (£11.3bn).

The Facebook Messenger app has a 3.5 star user rating on the Apple App Store, compared to the main app's 2.5 rating.