Rick Ferguson, director of security, research and communications EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) at Trend Micro, said that if there is an unexpected email promising you something from somebody you do not know, "treat it with absolute suspicion".
"If you do get something that looks like it comes from a friend of yours, just take the time to go back to the person who's sent you the invitation or email message, whatever it might be," he added.
"Maybe just give them a call on the phone and [ask] if they meant to send it - it's always worth double checking, and what you might also be doing is alerting that person to the fact that their account has been compromised."
The McAfee Threats Report: Second Quarter 2011 found 2011 as having had a record breaking amount of malware - around 12 million unique samples recorded so far.
Posted by Simon Jones
