The Anti-Phishing Working Group says there were more than six-and-a-half-thousand new types of phishing email circulating around the internet in October - three times higher than in the summer.

The group, which gathers information from software companies, says the figure is three times higher than during the summer and the technology being used by the hackers is increasingly sophisticated.

Initially the emails were simply made to look as if they came from banks asking customers to renew their log-in details.

Now some emails come loaded with bugs which, when triggered, can monitor where people go on the internet and which passwords they use. The banks are warning people not to open suspicious emails from anyone they don't recognise.

We managed to hack into the PC of our Breakfast guinea-pig, Natasha Gorwitch, with software which is freely-available on the internet.

The spyware took "photographs" of her computer screen, revealing her bank account, bank balance and friends' addresses.

Websense's top tips to prevent attacks on your account: