San Francisco - Some 50 per cent of US workers are blocked
from accessing the popular social networking site Facebook on their
work computers, according to a study conducted by information
technology security and control firm Sophos.
In a poll of 600 workers, 43 per cent said their company was
blocking access to Facebook, while an additional 7 per cent reported
that usage of the social networking Web site was restricted to only
those with a specific business requirement.
The poll also showed that 66 per cent of workers were concerned
that their colleagues were sharing too much information on Facebook,
which could lead to identity theft and targeted phishing attacks
against the company.
According to Sophos, a large number of Facebook profile pages
contain users' employment details, which could be used together with
other stolen information, by cyber criminals bent on committing
corporate fraud or infiltrating company networks.
LloydsTSB, Credit Suisse, and Goldman Sachs are among the
companies reported to have blocked employees from visiting Facebook.
The poll results showed that companies are split on the question
of social networks.
'Some believe it to be a procrastinator's paradise, which can lead
to identity theft if users are careless. Others either see it as a
valuable networking tool for workers, or are too nervous of employee
backlash if the site is suddenly blocked,' said Sophos executive
Brett Myroff.
'Companies need to make up their own mind as to whether they want
to allow users to access social networking Web sites like Facebook
during office hours. If workers are given access to these sites, it
is, however, imperative that they are taught best practices to ensure
they are not putting their personal and corporate data at risk. Five
minutes spent learning the ins-and-outs of Facebook's privacy
settings, for instance, could save a lot of heartache later,' he
said.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
Your Talkback on this Story