Young users at risk of 'status jacking'

''Status jacking'' is the latest security issue to affect social networking sites, with hackers stealing log-in information to post fake and malicious messages on users' pages. Students aged between 18 and 25 are the most at risk because they are the most active on social networking sites and are the most likely to use shared computers.

Online security company AVG analysed the safety of 50 global social networks, finding almost 20,000 compromised web pages on the top 50 social networks globally. Facebook, the world's largest social networking site, accounted for more than half of the compromised sites found. More than 7000 were on YouTube. AVG Australia and New Zealand managing director Peter Cameron says young people need to be more aware of security issues on social networking sites.