The "viral" success of social networks such as MySpace and Facebook has created a fertile ground for predators, scammers and identity thieves, warns an Australian information security expert.

CQR Consulting Information Security Consultant Jody Melbourne said the "explosive viral growth" of social networking and media sites had attracted the interest of many business-minded people.

"These new, unregulated platforms are attracting interest from people ranging from entrepreneurs to unscrupulous scammers, spammers and snake-oil salesmen," he said. "As with any medium of electronic communication or data-sharing, these social networks are being regularly poked and prodded by hackers and identity thieves."

Social networking sites allow people to build a personal profile, chat and send messages and share photos and videos with friends. Facebook and Myspace are the two largest, general purpose social networking sites while Bebo and Orkut were popular amongst teens and young adults around the world. LinkedIn is currently the most popular social site for business networking and recruitment.

Mr. Melbourne said the social features being added to major services like Google and Microsoft Live would soon bring social networking capabilities to millions of new users. "For many users, the larger social networks are fast becoming an all-in-one service for communicating," he said.

"The problem is this rapid, widespread adoption of social networking sites has a number of dangers."

These social networking threats include:

• Predators seeking young people may pretend to be a young person of the same or opposite sex in order to form online relationships which could lead to real life encounters

• Identity thieves can harvest personal information from sites to use for criminal gain

• Scammers and hackers can steal your identity by using a virus or malicious link to "hijack" your computer; inveigle your password; trick you into providing your credit card or bank account details; or use your photos or personal information to impersonate you on the web.

Mr. Melbourne said people often failed to consider that many employers researched potential applicants online. "Job seekers are being turned down for employment because of inappropriate or incriminating information and pictures on their social network profiles," he said.

10 tips for safer social networking

1. Never post online personal details, such as your mobile phone number or home address

2. Remember that information you publish online could put you at risk of victimisation

3. Restrict the number of "friends" you add to your social network. Scammers and criminals often set up fake profiles and try to add as many friends as possible

4. Remember you can't "take back" information or images once they are posted on the Internet

5. Look at your social network profile and photos from the perspective of employers or parents

6. Utilise the privacy and security features of your social network

7. Look for yourself on popular search engines to ensure your "public" profile is genuine

8. Be prepared to answer questions about your social networking page in job interviews

9. Never respond to rude or harassing comments posted to your profile or sent by email

10. Never follow a hyperlink to your social network accounts because criminals frequently trick users into clicking a link to a fake login page, to capture usernames and passwords.

Jody Melbourne provides a fuller explanation of his concerns about the risks associated with the success of social network sites online at http://www.impress.com.au/content/view/403/87/.

CQR Consulting delivers independent information security services, without the need to sell hardware, software or other technology services. The Australian-owned company provides an "honest broker" for organisations often caught between the competing claims of incumbent vendors.

For more about CQR Consulting, visit www.cqrconsulting.com.  For media assistance, call John Harris at Impress Media Australia on (08) 8431 4000 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .