Apparently, social media is not all “tweetness” and likes.
According to the new “Global Survey on Social Media Risks” conducted by the Poneman Institute–which bills itself as the “pre-eminent research centre dedicated to privacy, data protection and information security policy”–growing use of social media in the workplace is compromising both companies’ security and their brand image, while also having a significantly negative impact on employee productivity.
The survey was sponsored by Websense, a content security provider that, frankly, has a vested interest in convincing organizations they are at risk from cyber-terrorists and other assorted ne’er-do-wells.
Regardless, the Poneman report states that the top five risks risks to companies from employee use of social media–not including the colossal amount of man-hours lost to status updates and Farmville etc.–are viruses/malware, brand hijacking, lack of control over content, unrealistic customer expectations of “internet-speed” service and non-compliance with record management regulations.
Survey by: Poneman Institute for Websense
Methodology: The survey of more than 4,600 IT and IT security practitioners in 12 countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States also found that:
Key findings:
• 89% of respondents said that diminished employee productivity is the number one consequence of social media usage in the workplace, followed by diminished IT bandwidth (77%) and the loss of confidential information or violation of confidentiality policy (54%);
• 60% of employees are estimated to use social media for personal reasons at least 30 minutes per day; 63% of respondents said that employees’ use of social media in the workplace represents a serious security threat to their organization;
• Only 29% of respondents said their organization has the necessary security controls in place to mitigate or reduce the risk posed by social media being used in the workplace;
• 65% of respondents said that if there is a policy addressing acceptable use of social media in the workplace, their organizations do not enforce it;
• 52% of organizations have experienced an increase in malware attacks as a result of employees’ use of social media, with 27% saying the attacks increased more than 51%; and
• Countries with organizations that are most likely to see social media as a serious threat to their organization include Canada, Hong Kong and Mexico. Countries least likely to see social media as a threat are France and Italy. The country with organizations that have the most confidence in their ability to address the threat is Germany.
The full survey can be found here.
