Social networking linked to spam attacks

The amount of spam sent over the internet increased by 192 per cent in 2008, and social networking sites are contributing to more sophisticated spam attacks, says a computer security company.

Symantec's annual Internet Security Report found 349.6 billion spam messages were sent worldwide in 2008, up 192 per cent on the 119.6 billion messages sent in 2007.

The increase came despite a crackdown in 2008 which led to several major sources of spam being shut down, Symantec spokesman Steve Martin said on Tuesday.

"Spam remains a prevalent form of trying to trick people into doing things," he told AAP.

Like all cyber crime, spam and phishing, a process of acquiring sensitive information by masquerading as a trustworthy entity, were becoming more sophisticated, the report found.

Posting personal information on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace only makes this process easier for cyber criminals, Mr Martin said.

"One of the things that we see society doing more regularly, and I'd certainly advise against it, is on their social networking sites they're posting all sorts of information about themselves, such as birth dates, likes, dislikes, pet names and all those sorts of things," he said.

"That information we are seeing started to be farmed and used in spam and phishing attacks. So these attacks are more personal, it looks like they are understand who you are."

Apart from clogging email inboxes, spam also opens up recipients to the threat of having illicit software secretly installed on their computer that can capture keystrokes and in turn secure credit card, bank account and password details.

Symantec's report found credit card information can be bought on an underground economy for as little as eight cents, while bank account details go for as little as $13.90.

While real markets struggle in the global economic downturn, the online underground economy is thriving, Symantec said.

Opening a spam email could even result in cyber criminals gaining access to email accounts, which in turn opens individuals up to identity theft.

"We also see a trade in email accounts which gives the offender the ability to log into your email and send email from your address, but more importantly read your email," Mr Martin said.

"And what do you do if you can't remember a password on a secure site? You punch in your email address and they send you your password."

According to the report, Australia ranked 35th globally as a source of spam, and 27th as a phishing source.

The most important tip for users in guarding against cyber crime is to be careful where they go on the internet, Mr Martin said.

"It's like walking around a capital city at night time - there are certain streets that you're very comfortable walking around, and there are other streets that you wouldn't go near," he said.