Employees Ignoring Work Social Media Policies

A recent employee poll reported in Cisco’s 2010 Midyear Security Report, found that employees are ignoring corporate policies banning the use of social media tools and are logging on to these sites at least once a week from their company computer, InformationWeek.com reports. More than one quarter of employees said they change the settings on business devices to access prohibited applications, the study found.

In a related study, Cisco Security Intelligence Operations found that 7% of a worldwide sample of users on Facebook spent an average of 68 minutes per day while at work on the game Farmville, 5% spent an average 52 minutes daily playing Mafia Wars, and 4% doodled away an average of 36 minutes on Cafe World.

While the lure of social networks proves too strong for many employees to overcome, cybercriminals also are increasing their efforts to gain traction in this arena. Cybercriminals are using social media to commit crimes, enhance communication, and speed transactions with each other, according to Cisco. The U.S. government, now aware of this growing threat, has awarded grants to examine how social networks and other technologies can be used to organize, coordinate, and incite potential attacks, Cisco said.

Experts are concerned that criminals will use the popular games mentioned above to deliver malware to unsuspecting users and their networks.

Companies, according to Cisco, also are grappling with security issues surrounding virtualization and the ever-expanding array of mobile devices. To address these challenges, Cisco recommends businesses enforce granular per-user policies for access to applications and data on virtualized systems; create a formal policy for mobility; set strict business-data limits; use tools to manage and monitor the cloud and related activities; and give employees stronger, consistent guidance for their use of social media in the workplace.