(Veronica C. Silva, MIS Asia, NetworkWorld) A new report on consumer online behaviour and criminal activities on the Internet noted that new security threats have recently emerged, prompting the implementation of a mix of security solutions to protect unsuspecting victims.

Blue Coat's annual 'Blue Coat Web Security Report for 2009' released recently noted that security solutions are finding it difficult to keep up with the rapid attacks by cyber criminals. The popularity of social networking activities online is also making the Internet more vulnerable to recent attacks. The report noted that social networking sites accounted for 25% of activity among the top 10 URL categories last year. Web-based e-mail, on the other hand, dropped in popularity from fifth place in 2008 to ninth in 2009.

"The battlefield for information security against identity theft and cyber crime is the Web. The Web, and especially social media, is where the apps are, where the eyeballs are and, therefore, where the attacks are," said Andreas Antonopoulos, senior vice president and founding partner of Nemertes Research.[...]