It’s a disturbing occurrence that you don’t automatically think of in terms of the repercussions of a malware infestation…And according to this recent Associated Press article, it’s happening more often than you might imagine – innocent computer users unwittingly have pornographic images deposited on their PCs due to a virus, branding them as child abusers.

It’s not easy to stay up-to-date on all of the new online threats that scammers are casting out on the Web. Just take a look at our latest ‘industry news’ listings to get an idea of the array of topics buzzing through the security news – in the past few days alone.

Today, October 1, marks the start of National Cyber Security Awareness Month in the U.S.

At Lavasoft, we’re happy to endorse this public awareness campaign to encourage everyone to protect their computers and raise awareness about the importance of online security. What can you do to help promote this year’s theme, “Our Shared Responsibility”? Take a look at the StaySafeOnline.org site for details on how businesses, home users, and educators can get involved. For those stateside, also be sure to check out the list of events taking place this month throughout the U.S. to support the campaign.

There’s some interesting reading, for those who want to learn more about cyber crime and how it’s progressing, over at CNN.com today. The article “Cybercrime: A Secret Underground Economy” takes you through the process of ‘how the deed is done’ and gives estimates for what varying pieces of information go for on the online Black Market.

If you are anything like me, and I daresay, like most young(ish) people of my generation, I would hasten a guess that you are on Facebook or MySpace. I would also lay money on the fact that you randomly update your page with mindless comments about you day- you know the sort of thing I mean. 'I missed the bus on the way to work', 'my boss is in a lousy mood', 'can't wait for my much deserved and longed after glass of wine this evening' etc etc. Dare I say it?