Managers 'concerned over social networking'
An expert has said that people with management skills are becoming increasing concerned that their staff are putting security at risk through the use of social networks.
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, explained that many companies are worried about hackers getting their hands on employees' passwords.
Phishing is another concern for employers as research suggests that four in ten people use the same password for work purposes and their social networking accounts, he added.
"We see viruses being spread via social networks - people click on links and they get their computer infected but they're accessing these sites inside the workplace and, if they're not properly protected, there's a danger this can be a route through which malware can come in," Mr Cluley concluded.
The comments follow the publication of a recent report from Sophos which revealed that one-fourth of businesses have been a victim of malware, phishing or spam through social networking sites.
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Comments
Although i agree with the security issues for employers on social networking sites there is a value attached to using these sites to build networking relationships and grow business. a possible solution to recuse the risk is for companies to introduce seperate working accoutns to which the employees would need to use a more random password as is currently the case on most company computers. also possibly encouraging the employees to change the password every 6 weeks. I think that employers need to find ways to work with the social networking sites as these are now a modern day fact of life and rejecting them is not going to have a positive impact on the workign environment. In no way is this condoning using these networking sites for leisure purposes during working hours.
A lot more value than risk I'd say. You have to trust your employees or why bother hiring them in the first place? Doesn't say much for your recruitment if you hire people and then don't trust them not to misbehave online.
I think the solution to this threat is to train and educate employees as to what is suspicious and what isn't. When you're an 'expert at the internet' pretty much nothing will catch you out because you'll've seen it all.