ACCORDING to a survey by Integ Communications, a growing number of businesses are locking down social networking sites such as MySpace and Twitter for security reasons.
The sites are being blocked despite employees’ desire to use these internal collaboration tools.
According to Integ Communications chief executive Ian Poole, young employees in particular are accustomed to using sites such as Facebook and MySpace to communicate, and organisations recognise the significance of social software in encouraging communications among employees.
However, major companies are worried about the risks, particularly in relation to exposure to malicious attacks and information leaks, Poole said.
An informal Integ survey of 233 attendees at the recent AusCERT conference found 64 per cent blocked access to some websites.
Internet phone service Skype was blocked by 41 per cent of these respondents, while social sites Facebook and Hotmail were blocked by 38 and 36 per cent respectively.
MySpace was blocked by 33 per cent and Twitter by 32 per cent.
However, according to Poole, sites such as professional networking site LinkedIn were generally more accepted, due to its perceived 'business' use, despite being just as “insecure.”
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