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Businesses urged to look for social media positives
IT News |
30/06/2010
Businesses seeking to restrict the use of unsupported IT applications in the workplace are facing a tougher task than ever, a new study has suggested.
Research conducted by Cisco indicates that employees are using such services in 41 per cent of organisations, often against the wishes of their bosses.
In 68 per cent of at-risk organisations, social networking websites are being used, with collaborative (47 per cent), peer-to-peer (47 per cent) and cloud (33 per cent) technology also frequently utilised.
According to the Cisco study, more than a third of organisations have experienced a loss of information or data breach due to the use of unsupported network devices.
And 51 per cent listed social networking as one of the biggest three security risks to their organisation, while 19 per cent identified it as the principle danger.
Fred Kost, director of security solutions at the firm, commented: "As the lines between personal and business computing increasingly blur, it is becoming clear that employees are going to use social networking and personal devices whether permitted or not."
With this being the case, he claimed that the best strategic approach is to focus less on restricting usage and more on effective solutions to ensure highly secure, responsible use.
The study suggests that this is what employers are looking to do, with seven per cent already allowing the use of unsupported devices and a further 53 per cent planning to do so in the next 12 months.
Mr Kost said the solutions to businesses' IT security problems involve "more than technology".
"Organisations should develop education programmes, corporate policies and best practices in order to realise the extensive business benefits of social networking, while protecting against the variety of potential threats that it can present," he claimed.
According to Cisco, social networking tools are "an unprecedented and highly beneficial tool" for many business departments, including human resources, marketing and customer services.
Posted by John Lynes
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