Myspace Users Plagued by Identity Theft

Controversial social networking site, Myspace.com, is being plagued with yet another security problem. After a year of unwanted attention, thanks to lawsuits, hacks and even arrests, the portal has barely had time to look back on 2006.

Myspace users are now being attacked by a host of identity thieves online, who have been stealing usernames, passwords and personal information for unscrupulous use. Miscreants on the Internet either spam MySpace users with junk emails and links to sites or worse, even impersonate them on the web.

Although NewsCorp, the parent company of MySpace, says it has been taking steps to curb identity theft, users are being continuously attacked. Analysts say that the ease of use of social networking sites such as MySpace has now made it vulnerable. Spammers use different means, such as creating phony profiles and sending 'friend requests' to hundreds of unsuspecting users. Once the fake profile loads, a blue screen saying the profile is protected by the 'MySpace Adult Content Viewer'. Users who try to download the viewer in the hope of some pornographic material, get a worm that installs adware on their computers.

Myspace is the most popular social networking site online today, with over 9 million users worldwide. Google also recently announced that MySpace was the 'most searched' term in the year 2006.

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