Showing regional differences in Web 2.0 adoption, the McAfee study found organizations in Brazil and Singapore are much more likely to rate webmail useful than those in the UK, which are more keen on collaborative platforms and content sharing tools.
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — While business leaders across the globe see the value of Web 2.0 in supporting productivity and driving new revenue, they remain deeply concerned over security threats associated with deploying the technology, according to a new survey by security technology company McAfee (www.mcafee.com).
Based on the results of a survey of more than 1,000 global business decision-makers in 17 countries, the report, “Web 2.0: A Complex Balancing Act — The First Global Study on Web 2.0 Usage, Risks and Best Practices”, was commissioned by McAfee and authored by faculty affiliated with Purdue University’s Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (www.cerias.purdue.edu).
The study found that half of businesses were concerned about the security of Web 2.0 applications such as social media, micro blogging, collaborative platforms, Web mail, and content sharing tools. Sixty percent of those polled were concerned about loss of reputation as a result of Web 2.0 misuse. More than three out of five organizations reported losses averaging $2 million in security-related incidents last year – for a collective loss of more than $1.1 billion.
“Web 2.0 technologies are impacting all aspects of the way businesses work,” McAfee chief technology officer George Kurtz said in a statement. “As Web 2.0 technologies gain popularity, organizations are faced with a choice — they can allow them to propagate unchecked, they can block them, or they can embrace them and the benefits they provide while managing them in a secure way.”
Brazil, Spain and India led in adoption of Web 2.0 technology for business, while adoption was lowest in Canada, Australia, the US and the UK. New revenue streams were the biggest driver of Web 2.0 adoption, with three out of four organizations reporting expanded use of Web 2.0 technologies create new revenue streams, and 40 percent said the tools have boosted productivity and enhanced effective marketing strategies.
On the other hand, security is the leading concern, with half of respondents naming security as their primary concern for Web 2.0, and a third that identified fear of security issues as the main reason Web 2.0 applications are not used more widely in their business. Companies’ top four perceived threats from employee use of Web 2.0 are malicious software, viruses, overexposure of information and spyware.
Barring themselves from both the benefits and the hardships of social media, 13 percent of organizations polled block all Web 2.0 activity while 81 percent restrict the use of at least one Web 2.0 tool because of security concerns. Further, a quarter of organizations monitor how staff use social media and 66 percent have introduced social media policies, 71 percent of which use technology to enforce them.
According to respondents, reputation damage is the biggest business consequence of inappropriate Web 2.0 and social media usage. Sixty percent of companies reported that loss of reputation, brand, client or confidence was their greatest concern. A third of respondents reported unplanned investments related to “work arounds” related to social media in the workplace. Fourteen percent of organizations reported litigation or legal threats caused by employees disclosing confidential or sensitive information, with more than 60 percent of those threats caused by social media disclosures.
“Web 2.0 and social networking technologies can be used effectively for some business purposes,” CERIAS founder and executive director Eugene H. Spafford stated. “But to reap the benefits of Web 2.0, organizations must be proactive about understanding and managing the corresponding challenges. That involves putting the right policies in place, and deploying the technology that can enforce those policies.”
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