The nonprofit research organization Consumer Reports National Research Center surveyed 2,000 online households and found that 52 percent of adult social network users have posted personal information such their full birth date which can increase their risk of becoming a victim of cybercrime.

The survey — which was conducted in January this year also shows that 9 percent of social network users experienced some form of abuse within the past year, such as malware infections, scams, identity theft or harassment.

Meanwhile, some other interesting highlights from the survey include:

- Users who post information such as a full birth date – month, date, and year – (38 percent), photos of children (21 percent), children’s names (13 percent), home street address (8 percent) and details when away from home (3 percent) are especially vulnerable to becoming victims of abuse.

- In one of four households with a Facebook account, users weren’t aware of or didn’t choose to use the service’s privacy controls.

Consumer Report Facebook

Source: available at http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/consumer-reports-survey-52-percent-of-social-network-users-post-risky-information-92748344.html, accessed May 7, 2010

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