In this article from the BJHC&IM, the results of a recent study into social networking and collaborative applications such as Microsoft SharePoint are revealed.

Over the last 6 months, use of social media has increased dramatically:

• Twitter usage by 250%
• Facebook usage by 192%
• SharePoint usage increased 17-fold, and
• Blogging and wiki editing increased by a factor of 39

However, as more people use these web-based applications, security risks increase. However, many organisations now have outdated IT infrastructures or usage policies that fail to protect them from these growing risks.

The survey revealed that of the 255 web applications in use, 70% are capable of transferring information. Of these 70%, 64% have known vulnerabilities, 28% are known to propagate malware, and 16% can tunnel other applications. Whilst most are not necessarily malicious, some are specifically targeting social networking sites such as Facebook and are designed to hijack your accounts to steal your personal information.

Whilst some organisations are taking a blanket approach and banning all social media, this is not always the right approach as collaborative technologies can also deliver many business benefits. The key to managing the risks associated with social media is to ensure that your systems are designed with security in mind, that your security software is up-to-date and that you have an appropriate usage policy.

To read the story in full, please click here