However, I am wondering if the fact is that the collection of its users are just more careless / stupid.

Security firm Sophos reckons there has been a 70% rise in attacks on social network sites, while nearly three out of four companies think workers’ behaviour online puts their business at risk.

Three out of five users say they have been spammed via social networking sites, while one in three says they’ve been sent malware: both up around 70% on last year.

Worrying statistics, or proof that the increasing popularity of social networks with the less computer-literate is the reason they seem less secure?

Given that many novice computer users don’t know what firewalls and anti-virus software are, far less actually use them or practice personal safety online, it’s hardly surprising that threats seem to have increased.

It’s true that social network spam is particularly insipid, because it purports to come from someone you know. Perhaps that’s a good reason to only befriend people you trust — I know the Facebook spam I receive would never have genuinely come from those whose accounts have been compromised because it’s not in their character to try to sell me Viagra. Really.

Should social networks be doing more to educate users on what are real threats and what are fake? The recent “unnamed app” scare, for example, has in fact been hijacked by criminals, preying on those worried about their online security.

Maybe people shouldn’t be allowed to go online without knowing at least the basics of Internet safety. Yeah, OK, that’s never going to happen, but it’s a thought.

What do you think?

So you might be wondering who would be so mad that he would be willing to give that much money away…take a guess?  You probably didn’t have to think much.  Who else would be so affected by a worm?  The software giant, Microsoft, has always been prone to attacks from such malware and sees the Conficker as a “criminal attack.”  According to George Stathakopulos of the company’s Trustworthy Computing Group, “people who write this malware have to be held accountable.”  Hence the reward for whoever could find the person behind the worm.

I doubt that you have not heard of the worm before but for the benefit of those who might not have, Conficker takes advantage of computers which are not updated with regard to Windows security patches.  It is a self-replicating program and can infect computers via the Internet or those innocent looking USB sticks you use on a daily basis.  And once the worm has found its way to your hard drive, it is quite hard to remove as it immediately finds ways to burrow a hole and set up defences to keep itself safe.  Once set up, the worm can be used to steal data, among other things.

Now back to the reward.  Do you think that they will ever catch the perps this time?  Remember, they still have rewards up in the air for the creators of three other worms – Blaster, MyDoom and Sobig.