Facebook's new online messaging service makes users of the social networking site more vulnerable to identity theft by cybercriminals.
It urged users to be aware of the security risks before signing up for Facebook's next-generation online messaging service that blends online chat, text messages and other real-time conversation tools with traditional email.
Users need to realise that these new features increase the attack surface on the Facebook platform and make personal accounts all the more alluring for cybercriminals to break into.
Facebook accounts will now be linked with many more people in the users' social circles -- opening up new opportunities for identity fraudsters to launch attacks.
Fraudsters are increasingly using hacked Facebook Accounts to send spam messages -- compared with traditional emails -- because they are more likely to be opened by recipients lured to think the messages came from friends.
Users also need to be aware that Facebook will be storing a complete archive of all their communications with one person. This raises concerns as to how this data could be misused if it fell into the wrong hands.
With this in mind, it will be critical for Facebook to implement more effective filtering mechanisms to prevent fraudsters from manipulating Facebook users into falling victim to new spams, scams and phishing attacks.
Facebook users will have to take greater vigilance in securing their accounts, including installing hard-to-crack passwords, updating their computer security systems and being careful about which applications link to their profiles.
Market watchers say that with such a large user base, a free personalised facebook.com email service lays down a powerful challenge to the established email giants -- Microsoft's Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail and Google's Gmail.
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