According to an Everything Channel study of CIOs, seven in 10 midsize CIOs are using social media technology for their businesses.
Although the survey found that midsize CIOs still use social media tools more for personal reasons (73.5 percent) than for business (69.9 percent), respondents also said that social media can help improve business networks and gather product ideas — that is, once they figure out how to use it.
Productivity and effieciency seemed to be the major concern…however, I would argue that SECURITY needs to be on that list of deciding factors when establishing and implementing a usage policy for these various social media tools.
Here is a good example of the increased ‘pressure’ from constituents with respect to using social media tools:
“… we’re investigating on how to manage and monitor connections while maintaining security,” Gary Allen, CTO at the Amarillo Independent School District in Amarillo, Texas.
Mr. Allen is investigating his organization’s future with social media, as …
the number of requests to incorporate it (social media) have increased.
To any of you in the same boat as Mr. Allen and his colleagues, here is a great whitepaper that should help provide some insight into implementing a security posture for these Web 2.0 sites.
I recently attended a customer event where I presented a short overview of the Web 2.0 at Work study released by Websense.
Just to ensure everyone was on the same page with respect to what Web 2.0 was… I started by asking the audience for their definition of Web 2.0.
Although only a few were brave enough to respond, just as when I ask about DLP, each one had a different definition… ranging from the generic ‘social networks’ to technical references such as ’Ajax’. We finally agreed upon the common denominator of ‘user generated content’.
Even though I felt like that kid in Jerry Maguire having the ‘did you know?’ conversation, it was interesting to see the reactions of each attendee once presented with some of the facts and stats on the prevelance of Web 2.0 and the security misconceptions.
Needless to say, the dialogue following my breakfast presentation was dominated by…’ I didn’t realize that !” or ‘if I could do that, that would solve …’
Most if not all of the attendees knew that they needed an update in their security posture, but were unaware of how to address this shift from a technology perspective.
If are trying to figure out how to provide safe and secure access to sites like Facebook, Linkedin and others social media / web 2.0 sites, I recommend the following Best Practices document.
Web 2.0 is here to stay – we just need to adapt our security infrastructure and policies to better address it.
A key aspect to social media that many organizations sometimes forget is people power. With all of it’s business benefits, Social media needs real live people being social and active … in whatever Web 2.0 initiative you are embarking upon.
There are a few considerations every organization needs to consider when developing their blueprints for their own unique social media design. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution, there are few things you can plan for as you review the many options before you. (David Armano)
I would add a security component is also a ‘must consider’ prior to launching a web 2.0 initiative.
Read the rest of the blog post at Harvard Business.
