15 Jan 2010

Companies 'could benefit from new Facebook deal'

Firms could see their data security efforts given a boost after Facebook recently announced a new deal with McAfee to provide all its members with free antivirus services.

Alan Phillips, chief executive officer of 7Safe, said the landmark agreement could be good news for businesses, as McAfee has also agreed to integrate its software into the Facebook site, meaning employees who access their accounts at work are less likely to cause a security breach.

He commented: "The initial push was to get as many users as possible onto Facebook and now they're realising ... that they need to deal with people misusing the potential of these social networking sites."

According to Panda Security, 25 million new strains of malware were created in 2009, compared to a combined total of 15 million throughout the rest of Panda Security's 20-year history.

Furthermore, the company predicted the amount of malware in circulation will continue to grow during 2010.