If there’s something we value at F2F it’s safety. We’re working on being a safe, open and transparent platform on a daily basis. It's our business to protect yours!
We’re sure we don’t have to tell you that the world wide web can be a tricky place. Don’t panic though, you’re not alone in this and we’re doing everything we can to help, protect and make sure our Creators are aware of all of their options.
If there’s something we value at F2F it’s safety. We’re working on being a safe, open and transparent platform on a daily basis. And it’s also important for Creators to be alert, since - truth be told - anyone that’s brave enough to put theirselves out there and share content with Friends, Followers and everything in between, is vulnerable. And that needs to be discussed more within this sector. Luckily at F2F you’re not alone. In this blog we’ll tell you just how we’ll make sure you are safe, things you can count on us for, what you yourself can do to keep out persons with bad intentions and we’ll also give a few examples of well known scams that we can tackle together.
Measures we take to make things less easy for hackers? First: We don't store the passwords our users use, but instead create hashes of these passwords. It’s called hashing: the pseudonymization of personal data. We encrypt your data in a way that cannot be reversed to make sure no one ever finds out what your actual password is.
Second: even though we work with hashing, it is important for your digital safety and in fact for all the accounts you use all over the Internet, that you always come up with an original, strong password AND save it with a password manager, that way you won't forget anything and you won't have to resolve to DeathPet123_! for another 10 years.
Third, it’s extremely important for us to enable two-factor authentication for Creators. 2FA is a safer way for you to log in and makes breaking in to your account pretty difficult. That's because when you log in, it double-checks that it's really you and not some cyber bandit in a hoodie trolling the web while sitting in his mom's attic. 2FA works with the principle "something you know (your own password) + something you have (your phone with, for example, the Google authenticator app, which provides you with a code) = access".
So, in addition to entering your username and password, we need a second safety factor. A code you receive through your authenticator app, for example. Many websites work with 2FA these days. Other forms of double-checking in addition to your password could include a code you’ll receive by text or call, your fingerprint, just clicking 'okay' in your YouTube app, facial recognition or in our case, a generator app that creates new codes every few seconds. You can just download that Google authenticator app from your app store. Our tip regarding 2FA: always make sure to set it up, for everything.
Furthermore, we host F2F on Amazon AWS, which also runs many other major platforms. Here you can read why we specifically mention this in a list of security measures. In short, we don't want to host our platform "just anywhere" but only where the big ones are as well because it offers a certain level of security, reliability and scalability (as we grow even more).
Fifth, we check everyone who creates a Creator account with a so-called Know Your Customer check. Does that sound excessive? Very well, but there are way too many annoying copycats and sad catfishes out there to not do it. And as mentioned above, we’ll do everything we can to keep our real Creators safe. And you can't do that if someone else is trying to steal your identity and get rich with your photos. Our Know Your Customer check consists of three steps: we ask everyone for a copy of their passport, then we ask for a selfie to verify that you actually match that cute passport photo, and after that we’ll check if both match the content you post. In addition, we monitor anomalous login attempts and suspicious behavior on our platform. We know, we would do great in an episode of Law and Order: Find The Hacker.
Can you tell we’re taking your safety pretty serious? But what can you yourself do to make sure you and your content remain safe?
First of all, get going with the two-factor-authentication thingy. It’s sounds way more time consuming than it actually is and it could be a lifesaver in the future. And let’s be real, even our aunts are aware of 2FA nowadays, so it can’t be that hard, right?
Second, if you’re planning on doing a collab with other Creators in the near future, please make sure to get your paperwork in order. At least get them to sign a quitclaim so there won’t be any nasty surprises.
Look, when we say it is incredibly important for us to protect our Creators - who trust us so much that they want to create their content with us - we’re being dead ass serious. That's also why we work with Cam Model Protection. CMP is a company that monitors the internet for top Creators to make sure their content isn’t distributed illegally and when it is: CMP will try to take legal action against the culprit. The idea is that this tool, which addresses illegal downloads, secures your privacy 24/7, removes illegal copies of your content and also finds and removes this illegal content from search engines, will eventually be integrated on our platform.
Still no idea why we are so hung up on Internet security?
As stated above, you are extra vulnerable when you put yourself, your body and your face on the Internet. And we don't think this should be the case. At least, in an ideal world, you wouldn't have to worry about people stealing your content, using it to scam others or make a quick buck for themselves and people trying to break into your account or people claiming to be helping you and actually planning something completely different (and evil). But unfortunately, we don't live in an ideal world.
We regularly have to deal with people pretending to be someone else and posting personal content from someone who is not active on F2F at all, for example. When we find out about this or when it is brought to our attention, our legal team will immediately take action. And we can tell you that we have already won several cases of this caliber. So don’t even think about it.
There was also another scam that came to light recently in which someone pointed our Creators to so-called illegal content that had surfaced somewhere thanks to a so-called data leak and this so-called savior would help them out 'and knew a hacker who could make it all go away'. In the end this turned out to be a Fan who had bought the content in question himself, 'leaked' it and then - probably to get closer to his favorite Creator - told this Creator via an anonymous account that her content had ended up on the street due to a data leak and that he (what a hero!) could help her solve it. However, there was no data leak at all, there was just this one person with bad intentions and a sick mind.
So, if you ever come across anything suspicious: notify us right away. The Internet unfortunately is not a safe space but we can at least try our hardest to make F2F one. Together, we strive to be the safest platform for all Creators and their Fans!
