Safe Use Of Social Networking Sites

Safe Use Of Social Networking Sites Social Networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr and many others are changing the way people interact. By February this year (2008), Facebook had 66m subscribers and 250,000 new subscribers were being added per day. The fastest growing sector comprises of users between the ages of 25 and 35. The majority work in the business world, a very high proportion are university educated and work in the service sector, in particular financial and professional services. The social networking habit is spreading from the social arena into the business arena and spreading throughout the enterprise. Facebook claims that many corporate employees are subscribers.    30,000 employees from Microsoft, 33,000 employees from IBM, 20,000 employees from Accenture. A recent Gartner report concludes, "The failure to consider the business benefits of social networking sites on the performance of the enterprise is a big mistake." However many organisations are concerned about the risks of consumer services like Facebook finding their way, unregulated, into the enterprise. "The failure to consider the business benefits of social networking sites on the performance of the enterprise is a big mistake." A recent Forrester survey found that 78% of organisations are concerned about the risks of employee-driven, unsanctioned and unregulated use of social networking sites during working hours. However the same enterprises recognise the need to:       Enable a dispersed workforce to communicate in a practical and reliable way Locate, access, and share information faster Access enterprise contacts and content in more effective ways Improve employee satisfaction in order to retain the best employees Increase productivity in order to remain competitive Reduce expenses Zentek Solutions Ltd, Tel 0870 758 4303 www.esafebusiness.co.uk 1 Safe Use Of Social Networking Sites Employees are internet savvy and demand:   Information that should be under tight control may be publicly exposed, either accidentally or intentionally. Interactive, intuitive and user-friendly applications and information systems. Seamless communications and collaboration between employees, customers and business partners Squaring this circle causes enterprises who want to take advantage of the power of consumer social networking services in the enterprise to consider the following: The exposure of internal business systems to external entities. Information that should be under tight control may be publicly exposed, either accidentally or intentionally. What to share, how to share and when to share. The conventional wisdom has always been that controlling information is better than sharing it. Lack of integration of social software with other tools used by employees. The need to move back and forth between multiple applications and separate windows is what IDC calls "death by navigation". The business cost of death by navigation is extraordinary Trust and privacy - concerns and unease with new methods for interacting with (unknown) contacts Consumer social networking software solutions are available, but cost, maintenance issues, and adoption difficulties make these solutions impractical for most organisations to implement. Therefore, adopting consumer services offers the most promise (employees are already using them anyway), but consumer services are not "enterprise-grade". According to leading analysts, the introduction of consumer applications into the workplace by employees to improve productivity or better manage their personal and professional workloads is in its infancy. Yet even in this early stage, use of consumer services in the enterprise is quite extensive. According to a recent Yankee Group study, 86% of corporate end-users (not IT executives) already use at least one consumer technology in the workplace. Zentek Solutions Ltd, Tel 0870 758 4303 www.esafebusiness.co.uk 2 Safe Use Of Social Networking Sites It is inevitable that employees will introduce services that will increasingly expose their organisations to greater integration and security threats. By 2015, Gartner predicts that the future worker will "take a higher degree of control over their work environment and pulling the information, sources and tools when and where they need them, without restriction". Today, organisations typically adopt one or more of the following approaches: Raise the drawbridges - forbid the use of consumer technologies in the workplace. According to the aforementioned Yankee Group study, 35% of end users report that their IT department blocked the use of a third-party collaboration tool Ignore the phenomenon - do nothing to prevent or guide use of consumer technologies in the workplace. A prime example is the use of instant messaging tools at work. In the Yankee Group study, 65% of respondents report that their adoption of unsanctioned collaboration tools has gone unchecked by IT. This is probably the most widely adopted (and most dangerous) approach in effect today Provide enterprise "look-a-like" equivalents of consumer services with this approach, companies try to introduce enterprise-grade software and services to "compete" with consumer tools. Some examples include company home pages, instant messaging tools, and social networking software. Attempts to adopt these "private collaboration space" have - for the most part - failed Permit (and even encourage) limited use of consumer tools, subject to corporate policies. This is the most forward-looking policy, though it is not yet widely adopted. The bottom line is that consumerisation of IT is a trend that is irreversible. Trying to fight it is futile Permit (and even encourage) limited use of consumer tools, subject to corporate policies. This is the most forward-looking policy. Zentek Solutions Ltd, Tel 0870 758 4303 www.esafebusiness.co.uk 3 Safe Use Of Social Networking Sites What practical steps should an employer take? Write a clear and comprehensive AUP, ensure all employees, temporary, permanent and locum are aware of it. Remind them on a regular basis, provide electronic and paper copies, review it frequently and keep it up-to-date. Include all digital equipment, computers, MP3 players, digital cameras, mobile phones, USB devices and PDAs Enforce the AUP with a technical solution which includes user monitoring, image content control, USB device management, asset management and productivity measurement. If possible include forensic investigation. Undertake an internet monitoring impact assessment to ensure that the impact is proportionate. Pay specific attention to the rules surrounding social networking sites. Provide Education and training particularly about the risk to employees and colleagues of identity theft. e-safe business from Zentek Solutions Ltd provides all of the above. To learn more please contact us at: Zentek Solutions Ltd Zentek House St. Marks Street Bolton BL36NR Tel 0870 758 4302 enquiries@esafebusiness.co.uk www.esafebusiness.co.uk Enforce the AUP with a technical solution which includes user monitoring, image content control, USB device management, asset management and productivity measurement. If possible include forensic investigation. . Zentek Solutions Ltd, Tel 0870 758 4303 www.esafebusiness.co.uk 4