Security researchers from the Internet security firm, PandaLabs, recently discovered a number of scams involving a rising demand for hacks on soocial networking sites. One scamstood out  in particular, which offered to give gullible wannabe hackers access to any Facebook profile, all for a small cost of course.

The website only asks for the ID of the account you want to gain access to, it then scrapes information like the users name and other details in an attempt to appear more legit. Then all you have to do is sed some of your own private details, along with $100 to some place in Ukraine and you’ll be able to download the username and password to access the Facebook account. Simple, yes?

Don’t fall for these scams!

In a classic example of how a computer system malfunction can have serious negative effects, the Police National Computer currently features a glitch that stops it from linking to the Northern Ireland criminal database. This means when routine checks are made, for example when someone is arrested and their name is put on the file, the computer is not finding their previous criminal profile if it was in Northern Ireland.

One such case is the Ulster terrorists, who are all on the Northern Ireland database, one of whom was apprehended recently, but they weren’t aware they had actually got Johnny Adair, nicknamed “mad dog”, until they went and Googled his name.

A recent study undertaken by PC Tools showed that a large proportion of Briton’s are failing to update their secruity software at regular intervals. In fact, the results show that Britain is the worst of all the Western European countries when it comes to ensuring PC security is updated consistently.

Of the 4,500 participants surveyed, a third answered that they didn’t update their security software and almost one in ten didn’t have any security software in place at all.

Michael Greene, vice president of Product Strategy at PC Tools, stated;

“While consumers are generally security conscious, they are not yet security savvy. The increased use of the internet among consumers, almost all of whom are now online on a daily basis, is providing a lucrative market for cybercriminals and as a result, we are seeing more and more sophisticated techniques that lure consumers into clicking on malicious links or downloading malicious files, for example.”