McAfee is warning LinkedIn users about a rash of fake profiles that could put them at risk of malware infection, reports vnunet.com.

The phony profile pages claim to have nude photos of celebrities like Beyonce Knowles, Victoria Beckham, Salma Hayek and Kate Hudson. Clicking on the links launches an iFrame browser exploit, redirecting the user to other potentially harmful sites.

This attack serves to illustrate increased hacker interest in exploiting social networking sites. Just days ago, attackers used Twitter to launch a phishing attack and several accounts of celebrities were hacked.

Still, eWEEK blogger Matt Hines calls the attack lame. He doubts many LinkedIn users are going to the business networking portal looking for nude pics of Hollywood starlets. But, he notes, such an attack could become a dangerous weapon should a post contain a believable profile for a well-known CEO or industry pundit along with links to similarly themed malware URLs.