Security Concerns for Employee Use of Social Media

Four-in-ten survey respondents (40 percent in 2010 and 42 percent in 2011) said they were moderately concerned to extremely concerned about the security threat associated with employee use of social media, according to the What Keeps Network Administrators Up At Night survey commissioned by VanDyke Software and executed by Amplitude Research.

Most others were at least “slightly concerned”,  as only a minority were “not at all concerned” (12 percent in 2010 and 11 percent in 2011) about the security threat to their company due to employee use of social media.

Viruses (19 percent), data / information leaks (19 percent), intrusion risk (19 percent), users not being careful (9 percent), Trojan horses / other malware (9 percent) and concerns about risks to privacy / user information (6 percent) are the other concerns for network and systems administrators when they were asked to explain in their own words what concerns them most about employee use of social media at their organization

In addition to concerns related to security, 21 percent complained about employees wasting time on social media instead of being productive at work, according to the What Keeps Network Administrators Up At Night survey.

More than one-third in both 2011 (36 percent) and 2010 (37 percent) reported that their organization allows employees unlimited access to social media when using the company network. Close to half in both 2011 (48 percent) and 2010 (48 percent) reported allowing limited access to social media via the company network, said Amplitude Research in its survey.

Amplitude Research administered the 2011 study online during early April among IT panelists nationwide.  In total, 364 surveys were completed by respondents who confirmed working as a “network or systems administrator”  for their company / organization.

By TelecomLead.com Team
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