Creating social networks was a step forward towards connecting people, but also a step forward to spread viruses and worms. These worms would steal an individual's personal details and misuse them, For example, in October 2005, MySpace witnessed the spread of the Samy [XSS) worm, which carried a friend request with the message "but most of all, Samy is my hero", In just a few hours, millions of friend requests were automatically sent to the creator of the worm. On pleading guilty in court, the creator of the worm was sentenced to 3 years of probation.

Many such other incidences have also happened. Another example was Orkut in June last year, This worm stole an individual's information like username, password, and bank details, Due to the increasing risks involved in online networking, sites like Xanga have created locks like the Xanga Lock and the Friends Lock that provide restricted information to members to check other people's profiles.