Viruses spread on social networks

A new report from anti-virus company Panda Labs says the number of PCs infected with viruses has increased by 15% in the three months to September with five million new threats now online.

According to the latest figures, the company said the widespread use of social networks has helped fuel the rise with Facebook and Twitter seeing more activity around fake emails and antivirus programs.

“We are currently receiving some 50,000 new examples of malware every day compared to 37,000 just a few months ago,” technical director Luis Corrons told news.com.au.

“Cyber crooks are trying to infect the maximum number of computers possible, exploiting vulnerabilities and using social engineering techniques in spam messages, social networks and search engines,” the report said.

The report states that worms such as “Koobface” are being infected onto computers through links being spread on social networks, while “phishing” attacks, where users are tricked into revealing their login details, are also on the rise.