Trend Micro Inc., an Internet content security provider, has said that employees admitting to social networking site visits on the web while being connected to a corporate network has gone up in recent times.

A recent study by Trend Micro surveyed 1600 corporate end-users in the US, UK, Germany and Japan and came up with some startling figures which showed that nearly 20 percent of respondents were regulars on social networking sites, up from 15 per cent in 2007.

These sites, usually built upon Web 2.0 technologies, are prime targets for cybercriminals and malware authors who exploit their interactive nature and popularity to launch profit-driven, malicious attacks.

In addition to social networking sites, blogs, wikis and collaboration tools also use Web 2.0 technologies. According to Trend Micro's recent Threat Report & Forecast, Web 2.0 threats spiked, in volume, to over 1.5 million a month in January 2008 compared to just over 1.0 million in December 2007.

"The popularity behind social networking sites makes them vulnerable targets of cybercriminals," said Raimund Genes, chief technology officer at Trend Micro. "Instead of threats being distributed as email attachments, we are seeing more of them being embedded into Web 2.0 links, many of them found on social networking sites."

The survey found that:

* In the U.K., the percentage of end users who have visited social networking sites while on the company network increased significantly from 11 percent in 2007 to 27 percent in 2008. In Germany, the increase jumped from 9 percent in 2007 to 13 percent in 2008.

* In the U.S., U.K. and Germany, the number of end users who browse social networking sites while on the company network is increasing faster in large companies than in small companies.

* Alternatively, Japanese end users in small companies are more likely to visit social networking sites while on the company network than their counterparts in large companies.

* In the U.S., U.K. and Germany, mobile workers are more likely to visit social networking sites than desktop workers.