VPN with facebook - possible suspicious activity = account suspension?
Hey, just setup my PIA, it suddenly dawned on me if im opening facebook each time with a new IP connection each time with PIA etc and isnt a 'fixed' connection as usual as if i was on my usual unhidden IP could it result in facebook deeming my account suspicious and therefore suspending it ?.
Should i not have PIA connected when I am on facebook or will it be fine ?, just dont want to take any precautions as my facebook is obviously really precious and important to me just like with alot of people.
thanks
Comments
Thank you for your concern. It could be a potential issue with some sites when you're appearing to come from different regions within minutes of each other, but I'd have to suggest that you check Facebook's terms of service and see if they take specific issue with Shared IPs like you suggest. It might be perfectly fine to do so, but it's really up to yourself. There are a few methods by which you could connect to the same IP over and over as well, so if you like you could email [email protected] to request how to connect over a single IP and our techs could walk you through doing so.
Google, for example, don't seem to mind different IPs as long as you don't clear session cookies. But then your account becomes associated with those IPs.
They suspended my partner's account; always used VPN but cleared session cookies between logins. Using browser client obfuscating addons probably didn't help either.
Facebook, I cannot comment on.
Paypal told me not to use any VPN or proxy when using their service "because they are a financial institution" (!!). Six months ago they were pretty accommodating -- periodic locked account resolved by a phone call explaining VPN use.
I think in these instances, best to configure static IP connection using OpenVPN client.
http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/10/facebook-offers-hidden-service-to-tor-users/
My experience with FB and PIA, when I had PIA to say “Connect Florida”, I didn't have any issues with FB. Then one day connection was slow and I determined it was due to the PIA server in Florida. When I disconnect from PIA, FB response was much improved. I then set PIA to “Connect Auto” which would send me to the least congested server in the nation. It was then when I started experiencing FB security warnings. It didn’t happen right away, maybe a few weeks later. FB wanted to scan my PC for malware and wouldn’t let me login until that was done so. I already had Norton AV which came back clean in a manual scan. I really didn't like FB commandeering my access since nothing suspicious going on on me end. I relented and let FB scanner run but it also found nothing so let me back in.
Then about a couple weeks later FB again locked me out until I allowed their scanner to run. Everything else on my PC worked fine and clean, just FB thinks something is suspicious. FB ran the scan and again, came back clean and I was back in. Skip forward a month, happened again a 3rd time. Then it dawned on me. PIA Auto Connecting me to random servers somewhere in the Country that is least congested so FB thinks this is suspicious. I set my connection back to Florida and no FB lockouts. I did experience some latency in Florida so disconnected from PIA and things were fast again. Sounds like PIA needs to beef up their access point in Florida but I can see VPN being a potential issue for frequent travelers. I'm not a traveler but my PIA Connect Auto setting is.
Auto Connect I believe will keep me at the closest server to keep latency down. At least that is how I see it. I do know that when I select US-West I will end up in Arizona, but Auto Connect will always land me in Los Angeles.
Maybe one of the @support guys can explain how this really works. What algorithm is used for Auto Connect.
I think one of the biggest problems is as mentioned above. Too much jumping around and trying to use regular sites like FB. If I jump around and my email client accesses google I get a blocked notice because it looks like someone is accessing my account. So the key here is to not use regular sites like FB.
@p4961566 ;Do you have 2-factor authentication (2FA) enabled on your account? If not, I would highly recommend enabling it as it should make Facebook a lot less paranoid about your account. With 2FA enabled, you need two separate independent devices to log into your account which means even if malware were to compromise your account and try to lock you out from it, they couldn't because of the second factor of authentication (usually your phone). That in turn means Facebook doesn't have to force you to scan your computer to protect your account.
The virus scan itself is most likely triggered by another PIA user on the same server that do have a virus. As Facebook have no way of knowing who is who and have to operate on a per-IP basis for this, that's probably why this happens to you too despite being clean.
Hope this helps!