One in four companies report attacks via social networking sites

A recent Sophos poll revealed that 63 per cent of system administrators worry that employees share too much personal information via their social networking profiles, putting their corporate infrastructure – and the sensitive data stored on it – at risk. The findings also indicate that a quarter of businesses have been the victim of spam, phishing or malware attacks via sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace.

With social networking now part of many computer users' daily routine – from finding out what friends are up to, to viewing photos or simply updating their online status – Sophos experts note that unprecedented amounts of information is updated every minute. Frequent use of social networking sites makes them a prime target for cybercriminals intent on stealing identities, spreading malware or bombarding users with spam.