Social Media Malware, Spam Up 70%

The number of business reporting malware and spam attacks by cybercriminals on popular social networks rose sharply during 2009, posing a risk to users and the companies they work for, according to a report from Sophos.

Below, other findings from the Sophos Security Threat Report: 2010.

Spam attacks via social networking sites increased sharply during the year, with 57.0% of companies reporting such spam in December 2009, up 70.6% from the 33.4% reported in April 2009.

Meanwhile, 36.0% of companies reported malware attacks via social networking sites in December 2009, up 69.8% from the 21.2% reported in April.

Companies say social media use puts corporate infrastructures—and the data stored upon them—at risk: Nearly three out of four businesses (72%) say they are concerned that employee behavior on social networks exposes their businesses to danger, compared with 66% who said so in April.

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