Facebook's recent move to make the @facebook.com addresses of the users as their default addresses has raised security concerns, with officials at security software provider Sophos saying that the email change will probably facilitate spammers to a greater extent.

In a June 26-dated blog post, Sophos' senior technology consultant Graham Cluley said that Facebook's move to substitute users' chosen email addresses with their Facebook email address as the default on profile pages will likely attract spammers and other cyber-criminals all the more to those @facebook.com addresses.

Despite the fact that Facebook users who wish to go back to their original default email need to click on the "about" section of their profiles and `edit' the settings, Cluley cautioned the users not to be fooled into thinking that others will not be able to work out their addresses if they hide their @facebook.com email address because the default addresses "now matches the public username in your profile's URL."

According to Cluley, the change brought on by Facebook implies that, essentially by default, any Facebook user will have the ability to send messages to others; and that anyone using the Internet will be able to email the users at their @facebook.com address.

With Cluley having already warned users about the Facebook messaging system in a 2011 blog post, he said in his most recent post that Sophos had noted last year that "the @facebook.com email addresses are likely to prove attractive targets for spammers hawking goods and malicious links."