Ponemon Institute recently surveyed over 4,000 IT security leaders in 12 countries to learn more about social media and its impact on their businesses. The survey provided interesting insights into the real and perceived consequences of social media use in the workplace.

In general, IT cannot (and should not) completely block the social media steamroller. Indeed, most respondents agree that the use of social media in the workplace is important to achieving business objectives. However, left totally open and uncontrolled, the results are increased security risks, higher bandwidth consumption, and lower productivity. Here are the survey highlights:

• The rapid spread of social media may have caught many organizations off guard. 63 percent agree that employee use of social media puts their organizations’ security at risk. In contrast, only 29 percent say that they have the necessary security controls—such as secure web gateways—in place to mitigate or reduce the risk posed by social media.
• Malware attacks have increased because of social media usage, and it’s growing. 52 percent of organizations experienced an increase in malware attacks as a direct result of employee use of social media, and 27 percent say that these attacks recently increased more than 51 percent. The United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, Germany, and Singapore report the highest increases.
• Only one of the three technologies that respondents favor can block advanced malware and data theft attacks. Respondents identified antivirus/antimalware (76 percent), endpoint security (74 percent), and secure web gateways (73 percent) as important protections. But only secure web gateways with real-time content analysis and data loss prevention can block advanced malware and data theft attacks, many of which seek entry through social media.
• Even if they have a policy that addresses the acceptable use of social media in the workplace, 65 percent say that their organizations do not enforce it or they are unsure. The top three reasons for not enforcing these policies are: lack of governance and oversight (44 percent); other security issues are a priority (43 percent); and insufficient resources to monitor policy compliance (41 percent).
• Organizations believe that IT bandwidth has been diminished as a result of social media use. The top two negative consequences of an increase in social media use were diminished productivity (89 percent) and reduced IT bandwidth (77 percent), which increase costs. Just under half (47 percent) believe exposure to inappropriate content is a negative consequence.

The full “Global Survey on Social Media Risks” report is online and can be downloaded here.

We take care of all these security and productivity concerns, “But only secure web gateways with real-time content analysis and data loss prevention can block advanced malware and data theft attacks, many of which seek entry through social media.” Todd Koopman, Territory Account Manager for SonicWALL.

Resource One, Inc is a registered Reseller of SonicWALL security products.