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A European advisory body has recommended that internet search engines should delete users’ personal data.

The European Commission’s Article 29 Data Protection Working Party report has told how search engines are unclear on their data protection policies and advised that all collected personal data should be deleted after six months, the BBC has reported.

The recommendation would mean that collected data could only be used for the purpose of searching.

If the commission accepts the request it could lead to conflict with popular American search engine companies.

Google and Yahoo! carry a policy of rendering all users’ data anonymous after a period of 18 months. MSN’s policy comes into action at 13 months.

In a statement Peter Fleischer of Google’s global privacy counsel said: ‘Google takes privacy incredibly seriously; protecting our users’ privacy is at the heart of all our products.’

Another obligation set out in the report was the obtainment of personal consent from users to allow their data to be uses in non-search services. It also asked search engines to give users clear information on the data they intended to collect.

Hacking has become an increasingly professional operation, as cyber crime becomes ever more lucrative, a leading security expert has said.

Joe Telafici, vice president of operations for McAfee’s Avert Labs, told the BBC that there had been a clear trend in the last year towards malware designed to make money.

Instead of the debilitating effect of a shutdown or the irritant-style spam which might slow down a PC, Mr Telafici says attacks have become more focussed on theft.

“2007 was a fairly interesting year,” he commented, adding that an “eco-system” surrounding the solicitation of money from unsuspecting users had sprung up.

As well as criminals using the tools to try to scam money from users, security threats are being commercialised and offered on the open market, with those without the expertise to perform hacks now able to operate applications which do it for them.

The advent of new web-based applications such as social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, which include a welter of personal data and opportunities for illicit access, has further muddied the waters for security analysts.

The sites, which soared in popularity in 2007, are expected to be a target for hackers this year.

Social networking sites are likely to become an increasingly attractive target for fraudsters, experts have warned.

The turn of the new year is expected to see the popularity of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook continue.

However, IT security analysts say the proliferation of personal details and the availability of information on people’s date of birth, interests and phone numbers could be a way in for unscrupulous hackers.

ScanSafe has forecast that 2008 will see Web 2.0 threats top the list of the biggest security worries.

“The explosion in popularity of Web 2.0 applications has made Web 2.0 sites an increasingly rich target for cyber criminals,” the firm declared in its evaluation of the coming year.

Mary Landesman, senior security researcher at the firm, told the BBC the nature of the medium meant it could be targeted.

“The technologies that play there and the third party add-ons make it an environment that is susceptible to compromise,” she explained.

Cybercrime is said to be an industry worth more than $100 billion a year.