Those who have a social networking account -- take note. The FBI is warning users of the increase in social network account hijackings, IT Business Edge contributor Ralph DeFrangesco writes in a recent post. According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), cyber-criminals have been hijacking accounts and sending out e-mail saying they are in legal or medical distress overseas and they need your help.

DeFrangesco lists several suggestions for those who need help protecting their social network accounts:

• Adjust Web site privacy settings to help protect your identity.
• Disable options that you rarely use.
• Be careful what you click on.

That last one would appear to be common sense, but since these attacks are still very effective, we must assume that not enough people are getting the message.

For other security threat updates, check the Knowledge Network every month for MX Logic's Threat Forecast. The latest report revealed:

• Spam levels are at all-time highs, accounting for more than nine out of 10 e-mails sent.
• As the U.S. health care reform debate continues to heat up, there’s a strong chance we’ll begin to see forms of political ‘hacktivism’ affecting the performance and availability of popular social networking sites.
• Fake UPS or DHL invoices remain the most popular theme to use with malware attached directly to e-mail. In fact, this tactic made up four of the top five malicious e-mail campaigns.