Microsoft has recently paid $265 million dollars for a minority stake in Facebook - taking the value of the social network site to $16.47 billion. Microsoft snared an exclusive banner advertising deal across all Facebook sites as part of this deal.

This move has prompted the following question: as more and more internet activity is occurring within social network sites rather than on the open internet, is it possible for Google to maintain market leadership? This question was recently proposed to chief executive Eric Schmidt, who strongly refuted the possibility.

The Australian online florist RosesOnly.com.au may have had its site hacked by cyber criminals who used customer credit cards to make a string of purchases in South East Asia.

The NSW State Crime Command Fraud Squad has established StrikeForce Parkview to investigate the possible breach of the Roses Only database of credit cards and customer numbers.

A statement from the online retailer assured customers they would not be held responsible for unauthorised purchases on their credit cards. Further, RosesOnly informed customers that measures were implemented to stop this kind of thing from occurring again.

"We moved quickly to address the situation and engaged a leading international technology security firm to enhance the security of our system," the statement said.

The alleged hack comes only months after the Australian website of AAMI was defaced by Turkish hackers in July.