When college officials warn incoming students about the dangers of MySpace and Facebook, they tend to talk about thorny issues like privacy and personal responsibility. But campus-network administrators probably would like to see the topic of computer security get at least a brief airing.
After all, social-networking sites have become breeding grounds for viruses and spyware, according to a new report. The study—one in a monthly series conducted by ScanSafe, an online security firm—found that one in 600 social-network profiles contains some sort of malware, reports ElectricNews.
Not all social-networking sites are equally dangerous, though: Facebook, which restricts access to users with campus e-mail addresses, is less virus-ridden than wide-open competitors like MySpace. —Brock Read
