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The FBI recently published a report warning of the dangers posed by social-network sites that it says are being exploited by digital con artists, criminals and other dishonest actors.

The FBI report, made public earlier this month, states that social-networking criminals are exploiting this capability for nefarious purposes, using two main tactics.

They include computer hackers who specialize in writing and manipulating computer code to gain access or install software on computers and phones. The second method involves hackers who specialize in exploiting personal connections through social networks.

Social hackers, sometimes referred to as social engineers, manipulate people through social interactions (in person, over the phone, or in writing), the report said.

Humans are a weak link in cybersecurity, and hackers and social manipulators know this. They try to trick people into getting past security walls. They design their actions to appear harmless and legitimate.

Social-networking sites such as Facebook and others are Internet-based services that are used to share information and communicate.

According to the FBI, the risk of using social-network sties is that once information is posted to a social-networking site, it is no longer private.

The more information you post, the more vulnerable you may become, states the report, posted on the National Counterintelligence Executive site. Even when using high-security settings, friends or websites may inadvertently leak your information.

Personal information obtained by hackers and criminals on social networks can be used to conduct attacks on people or organizations; and the more information that is shared, the more likely someone could impersonate you and trick one of your friends into sharing personal information, downloading malware, or providing access to restricted sites, the report said.

Foreign intelligence agencies, predators, hackers and business competitors are among those who use social-networking sites that can be targeted in attacks. The information may not be used to attack the social-networking site, but could be used in other attacks.

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Inside the Ring: FBI on social-network risks

A British couple are expecting a child by a surrogate mother from an Indian "baby factory", it has been reported.

Dominic and Octavia Orchard went to a clinic in Hyderabad to get round a ban in Britain on commercial surrogacy, according to the Daily Mail.

The baby, due at the end of the year, will be theirs biologically, while being born to an impoverished 31-year-old Indian woman "renting out" her womb, the newspaper said.

The couple know the woman's name and that she has no husband, but have opted not to become acquainted with her.

Mrs Orchard, 34, said: "Our baby has no biological connection to the surrogate. Her womb is just the receptacle in which it is being carried. Perhaps it sounds cold and rather clinical, but this is a business transaction."

Mrs Orchard and her 35-year-old husband have not been told how much the surrogate will make from the 20,000 cost of the treatment, but estimates range from 3,000 to 6,000, the newspaper said.

"I hope my surrogate will do something wonderful with the payment," Mrs Orchard said.

"She could educate her children with it; even buy a small house. It makes me feel good that we could help that happen."

The couple, who live in Hong Kong but intend to return to the UK, to Wimbledon or Oxford, have a three year old son, Orlando, who was conceived naturally.

However, for medical reasons, Mrs Orchard can no longer become pregnant, and it was that that led them to consider surrogacy.

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Couple use 'baby factory' surrogate

Up to 10,000 people who stayed in lodging cabins at Yosemite National Park may have been exposed to a deadly mouse-borne virus that has killed two people.

Park concessionaire Delaware North sent letters and emails this week to nearly 3,000 people who reserved the insulated Signature cabins between June and August, warning them that they might have been exposed.

The cabins hold up to four people and park spokesman Scott Gediman said Friday that could mean up to 7,000 more visitors might have been exposed to the virus that so far has killed two people and made four others ill.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 calls a day are coming into the national park as visitors frightened about the growing outbreak hantavirus pulmonary syndrome call seeking answers.

On Thursday the California Department of Public Health confirmed that a total of six people had contracted the disease at Yosemite, up from four suspected cases earlier in the week.

Alerts sent to state and county public health agencies, as well as local doctors and hospitals, have turned up other suspected cases that have not yet been confirmed, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

The illness that begins as flu-like symptoms can take six weeks to incubate before rapid acute respiratory and organ failure. There is no cure and anyone exhibiting the symptoms must be admitted to hospital. More than 36% of people who contract the rare illness will die from it.

All of the victims confirmed so far stayed in the plush Signature tent cabins in the California park's historic Curry Village section between mid-June and early July. Park chiefs said the double-walled design of those particular cabins made it easy for mice to nest between the walls. The disease is carried in the faeces, urine and saliva of deer mice and other rodents and carried on airborne aerosol particles and dust.

The 91 insulated canvas cabins in the century-old Curry Village are new to the park, built in 2009 to replace some that had been closed or damaged after parts of Curry Village, which sits below the 3,000ft Glacier Point promontory, were determined to be in a rock-fall hazard zone. Park staff found evidence of mouse nests in the insulation while taking them apart for cleaning.

In 2011, half of the 24 US hantavirus cases ended in death. But since 1993, when the virus first was identified, the average death rate is 36%, according to the CDC.

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National News: 10,000 exposed to killer virus

Up to 10,000 people who stayed in lodging cabins at Yosemite National Park may have been exposed to a deadly mouse-borne virus that has killed two people.

Park concessionaire Delaware North sent letters and emails this week to nearly 3,000 people who reserved the insulated Signature cabins between June and August, warning them that they might have been exposed.

The cabins hold up to four people and park spokesman Scott Gediman said Friday that could mean up to 7,000 more visitors might have been exposed to the virus that so far has killed two people and made four others ill.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 calls a day are coming into the national park as visitors frightened about the growing outbreak hantavirus pulmonary syndrome call seeking answers.

On Thursday the California Department of Public Health confirmed that a total of six people had contracted the disease at Yosemite, up from four suspected cases earlier in the week.

Alerts sent to state and county public health agencies, as well as local doctors and hospitals, have turned up other suspected cases that have not yet been confirmed, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

The illness that begins as flu-like symptoms can take six weeks to incubate before rapid acute respiratory and organ failure. There is no cure and anyone exhibiting the symptoms must be admitted to hospital. More than 36% of people who contract the rare illness will die from it.

All of the victims confirmed so far stayed in the plush Signature tent cabins in the California park's historic Curry Village section between mid-June and early July. Park chiefs said the double-walled design of those particular cabins made it easy for mice to nest between the walls. The disease is carried in the faeces, urine and saliva of deer mice and other rodents and carried on airborne aerosol particles and dust.

The 91 insulated canvas cabins in the century-old Curry Village are new to the park, built in 2009 to replace some that had been closed or damaged after parts of Curry Village, which sits below the 3,000ft Glacier Point promontory, were determined to be in a rock-fall hazard zone. Park staff found evidence of mouse nests in the insulation while taking them apart for cleaning.

In 2011, half of the 24 US hantavirus cases ended in death. But since 1993, when the virus first was identified, the average death rate is 36%, according to the CDC.

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10,000 exposed to killer virus

Bridalveil Fall in Yosemite Valley at Yosemite National Park in California. Photo: Reuters

Some 10,000 visitors to California's Yosemite National Park could have been exposed to a deadly virus that kills one in three victims and cannot be treated, officials say.

So far, six cases of the rare hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) have been confirmed - two of whom have died - while a "multiple" number of other suspected cases of the rodent-borne disease are being investigated.

Yosemite authorities closed down the "Signature Tent Cabins" earlier this week at Curry Village, a popular lodging area in Yosemite Valley, the tourist centre of the scenic park visited by millions of people every year.

The National Park Service (NPS) has written to some 2,900 people who booked stays in the Boystown area tent lodgings between June 10 and August 24, alerting them to keep an eye out for symptoms of HPS.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated the number of people who actually stayed in the tent cabins - those who booked plus their guests - at 10,000.

"On August 24, 2012, the tents were disinfected and visitors were relocated. People who stayed in the tents between June 10 and August 24 may be at risk of developing HPS in the next six weeks," the CDC said.

The incubation period for HPS is typically two to four weeks after exposure, with a range of a few days up to six weeks.

Symptoms include fever, chills, myalgias, cough, headaches and gastrointestinal ailments.

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National Park tourists exposed to killer virus