Minnesota, USA -October 7, 2011 - A common misunderstanding among people is that the older groups of internet users are the ones who experience hacking attacks; however, MTV recently polled its users to discover that 3 out of 10 teens and young adults have been victims of hack attacks, which is almost a 2 times increase from the data found in 2009, MTV reported. Users sited this as happening in social networking, email, and other internet accounts; over the majority of users claim that they know who was responsible for the hacks. While some users say that it was 'spying' for fun, it upset 46% of the individuals affected.

It is common to see a switch in Facebook status that props questions on 'who' wrote it; it can be anything from complimenting the 'hacker' or bluntly stating that the account was hacked; most of the time this occurs when someone leaves open his or her screen with the account open. We all do this from time to time and it is likely that you have even got on someone else's computer to write a 'friendly' note on his or her account. We must remember though that some people will not take this as lightly as some; a joke to one person may be a serious matter to another.

But what does this data tell us MTV points out how some users consider it like a 'fun' game, but there are also serious cases that young adults should be proactive in preventing. Although some respondents claimed that they share their passwords with others, those who did not share it also experienced awful activity on their accounts by a hacker. The specific hackers could not be pinpointed but it was obvious that the victims were known personally.

It leads us to the same advice: be careful when using you accounts and update your password frequently -it makes it less likely that someone will get into your account and rage havoc on your life. It is not serious if a loved one does it in a 'silly' way, but you could also be opening yourself up to be a victim of an awful crime.

Hackers get into accounts in order to smear others' virtual images, get in contact with your friends in order to obtain money, and basically masquerade as you until you notice or someone else notices that something is wrong. What can be fun and games one day could become a big disaster on another day, so be precautious and update your password now!