Thanks

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,139137-c,hackers/article.html

can i come along next week and lay claim to this too?

I have noticed a trend in my area of MySpace users having to “start over” by creating a new account, since their old ones were tainted by hackers, and there was nothing MySpace could do to fix it.

These users returned despite suffering a major inconvenience. No doubt Myspace enjoys a lock-in effect due to the size of its network.

But they better not take the situation for granted. Here’s why:

The other component to Myspace’s lock-in effect is the time and effort users put into their profiles, as well as the information stored in their accounts. As soon as users are forced to start over anyway, this advantage is removed. At that moment, MySpace only has the size of its network to count on.

Enter Facebook. As its network continues to grow and begins to rival that of Myspace’s, a hacked profile can present to an angry MySpace user the opportunity to make the switch to Facebook. This could well prove to be MySpace’s greatest threat as it struggles to maintain its lead. Quite possibly, it is already a factor in Facebook’s growth.

(I should note that among the general population here in Southern California, unlike in Silicon Valley, MySpace dominates over Facebook.)

Myspace is like a mini-version of the Internet, with each profile page being analogous to an independent website, so it is not surprising that it is suffering from some of the same plagues. Facebook is thus far exempt from this analogy because its users don’t have as much control over the look and feel of their profile.

Just like the browser opened up the Internet but also opened the door to security issues, the more open a social network is, the more it will also have to deal with malicious intent. This will provide growth opportunities for forward-thinking security firms like Exploit Prevention Labs.