Identity Theft Daily reports that there is a higher risk of identity theft among individuals who frequently use wireless technology in the form of BlackBerrys and cell phones. The French government is so concerned about the lack of security provided by wireless technology that it recently banned the use of BlackBerrys in government offices and at the presidential residence.

According to Townsend, author of “Information Technology and the World of Work”: “Much of the problem with modern communications systems is the fact that no communication is momentary. In a classic face-to-face or telephone conversation, your comments, your voice and the meaning of what you were saying only existed in the moment of the communication. With modern communication, most systems of communication – including email, instant messaging, and some telephones – create some degree of persistence of their content. Add to this increasing use of wireless communication for cell phones and laptops – which creates the potential for message intercepts – and you might as well be posting everything you say onto YouTube.”

MySpace users were getting their accounts hijacked left and right a couple of months ago. SecurityFocus.com reports that there is a reason for this. Starting in mid-March, the number of page views generated on phish sites increased five-fold, with almost all (95 per cent) targeting MySpace, according to a recent Google analysis.

According to Google, phishers used a modification to the style sheet of a user’s profile to place a transparent image over the page, causing a click on a link — or anywhere else on the page — to redirect the visitor to a fake MySpace login page.

In mid-April, MySpace changed their server side code to disable bad links in users’ profiles and the traffic to known phishing sites dropped down to its pre-March levels.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Pew Internet & American Life Project shows that 55 percent of all teenagers online use social networking sites, such as MySpace and Facebook. Of these teens, 66 percent have adopted security measures to limit access to their personal pages.

Most social networking sites allow users to list their site as “private” and allow only friends to log on. According to the Pew survey, the majority of all teenage users have some security measures to fend off unwanted visitors.

“Teens have learned to walk the line,” says Amanda Lenhart, a senior research specialist who co-authored the survey, “between attracting the people they want to meet and keep out the ones they don’t.”

Gary Gentile of Associated Press (AP) reports that MySpace is increasingly becoming a place for identity theft scams, as criminals take advantage of the the trust users have when communicating with “friends” to steal passwords that could lead to identity theft.

For example, MySpace user Kary Rogers expected to see a funny video when a “friend” messaged him a link. First, though, he was directed to a page where he was asked to re-enter his password. Rogers realized that someone was trying to steal his information, and closed the window. If he had fallen for the scam, the crook might have used his information to spam him or even to steal his real-life identity.

MySpace promotes itself as a “place for friends.” However, addressing the risks that come with the massive growth of the site is a major challenge for MySpace, now part of News Corp. media conglomerate. As more and more users join the site, online scammers are increasingly targeting MySpace.

According to Gentile: “One recent scam works this way: A spammer posts a number of phony profiles featuring pictures of cute women, often promising nude photos. A ‘friend request’ with the woman’s photo is sent to hundreds of users. Once the fake profile loads, a blue screen descends, saying the profile is protected by the ‘MySpace Adult Content Viewer.’ Unsuspecting users who try to download the viewer instead get a worm that installs adware on their computers.”

This is one of many scams targeting the social networking site. In response to these scams, MySpace is stepping up security efforts to protect users, said Hemanshu Nigam, its chief security officer. The company is expanding its team of software engineers, lawyers and other experts who look for suspicious activity, educate users on how to prevent attacks and go after the worst offenders.

Spear phishers (scam artists that use highly targeted phishing tactics) are targeting MySpace music fans in the latest evolution of attacks that trick victims into visiting phony Web sites that pose as online music stores. The emails appear to come from the victim’s MySpace contact emails, increasing the chances that he or she will open the link.

According to John Leyden of The Register, the message in the email says, “You’ve got a new song from on MySpace!”, and invites victims to click on a link that directs them to a site claiming to sell MP3 music. However, these sites have no affiliation with MySpace, and aim to trick victims into handing over their names and credit card information to fraudsters. To make the phony emails appear more legitimate, phishers include fake MySpace boilerplate text in their messages.