Does Social Media Pose a Security

Threat?

With the use of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others on the rise, so

are many new potential security threats to small to midsize businesses

working with these sites. As we all know social media sites can grow our SMB’s exposure and generate more revenue for the company in some

cases.

Marketing on social media sites is a must for all different types of

businesses, so shutting down access to them in the workplace all together

in order to curb security risks is impossible.

However since there are so many new cases of accounts on Facebook,

Twitter, and other sites being hacked, it is extremely easy for a user to click on a link that a friend posted on their

wall and cause their computer to become infected with a virus.

So now that we know that using social media is essential these days for our

SMB to grow, how can SMB owners or IT guys protect the security of the

company? Right now, Wedge Networks is beefing up their content inspection network to also monitor social media and Web application traffic to prevent

viruses and other security risks

Wedge Networks CEO Hongwen Zhang says that the “allow-or-block” paradigm

for social media is extremely counterproductive in this technological

age.

“For SMBs to really have an iron-clad security grasp–basically, banning social media–is simply not possible,” Zhang

said in an interview.

That’s not to say that companies should encourage the use of social

media in any shape or form. For example employees shouldn’t be using

social media to tweet about their lunch plans on the clock. This of course should be something that CEOs should

include in their policies and procedures manual.

Wedge Networks new BeSecure feature will act as an online traffic cop for social media sites to try and track

down malware and nip the problem in the bud. Wedge Networks will monitor the things coming in and out of social

media sites even if it is supposedly coming from a safe source.

Think about how much time that is going to save you as an IT guy.

According to an article on InformationWeek:

“Rather than categorize sources as “good” or “bad,” it takes a look at

what’s behind it–looking for something like a recently injected malicious script in an otherwise “good” site. Likewise, the device monitors outbound traffic for sensitive data; administrators can enact policy-based rules that look for

particular types or formats of information that could pose a risk.”

The most difficult aspect of protecting your computer from social media

security threats is that each individual at a company sets up his or her own security settings on their personal desktops or laptops, this is why if companies choose to use Wedge

Networks services, all computers that are a part of your SMB can be easily

monitored.

While large companies can block social media sites across the board, SMB’s

need the access to these sites for exposure and marketing needs across the board. Check out Wedge Networks

right here for more information.