A European agency has given advice on how to combat the risks posed by Web 2.0 sites.
Web applications such as social bookmarking, wikis, photo-sharing and social networking sites have become increasingly sophisticated to keep up with demand.
Giles Hogben, an expert at the European Network & Information Security Agency (ENISA), said the applications are pushing existing web technologies to their limits.
Due to this, even the most experienced developers are having to resort to loopholes and hacks to make their applications work.
Mr Hogben said: "It's no surprise that criminals are attacking these applications, and are using them as vehicles to distribute malicious code to users."
A survey by ENISA found that most people will trust a source as long as it appears more than once on the internet, but Mr Hogben warned that the tendency of Web 2.0 sites to replicate means this is no longer a viable strategy.
Andrea Pirotti, executive director of ENISA, said: "We need better ways to establish trust in information in the Web 2.0 world."
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