Social Media Security: How Safe is Your Business?

Social media security and privacy are hot issues in the web marketing world right now. Many companies are (finally) becoming more aware of the business risks associated with social media and are adopting social media policies for their employees.

A recent security threat report by Sophos, an internet security company, has shown that many businesses are aware of this issue, even if they're not all taking many effective steps to protect themselves. The report found that:

• For 2009 there was a 70% increase in the proportion of businesses reporting spam and malware attacks originating from social network websites. Over one third of these businesses reported receiving malware attacks from social media sites (Sophos Security Threat Report, January 2010).
• For 2009, more than 72% of the firms surveyed feel that employee behavior on social media sites pose threats to the security of their business (Sophos Security Threat Report, Januay 2010)

1. Don't ignore the risk. Understanding and addressing the risks associated with social media is an important first step towards insulating your business from issues like malware and spam attacks.
2. Create and communicate social media policies to raise security awareness. Creating policies which dictate how your employees can use social media with regards to your business, and communicating them effectively to raise awareness, are great ways to help mitigate the potential risks your company faces from its employees use of social sites.
3. Be careful what you put out there. Remember, just because the contacts on your social media account are listed as your friends/followers/contacts doesn't mean they have protecting your organization's best interests at heart. Anything you put out in social media whether personal or professional can be read by these people and then spread with potentially disastrous consequences.
4. Keep your security software up-to-date! Hacking of social media sites has already proved to be a risk. Securing your organization's computers by making sure that your security software and firewalls are functioning properly can help you diminish the chances that your company's information will get stolen.
5. Commit to social monitoring. Monitoring  the social media sphere is an important aspect of any security strategy. Properly monitoring social media sites can help you not only be aware of the current security threats (new malware attacks etc) that are out there, but it can also help you address issues that arise as quickly and painlessly as possible and can help you determine if your employees are actually following your social media policies. 

Posted by Amberlie Denny at June 9, 2010 2:00 PM

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