Social networking websites are great, but just watch out for all of the spyware beginning to creep its way forward.

Spyware’s threat is getting nastier. Infection rates are on the rise, in part thanks to the surging popularity of social-networking sites like MySpace.com.

That’s the assessment of Webroot, a leading vendor of anti-spyware software, which released the latest quarterly update of its State of Spyware report. In order to keep its software up-to-date against the latest threats, the Colorado-based company constantly tracks the creation of new spyware—the programs that become embedded in computers and track users’ Web-surfing habits and generate annoying pop-up ads (see BusinessWeek.com, 7/17/06, “The Plot to Hijack Your Computer”)…. Source: Business Week