Study: 50% of employers block MySpace or Facebook used
Fifty percent of businesses are blocking employees’ access to social networking Web sites such as MySpace and Facebook, according to the study by Barracuda Network, a security software appliance vendor.
Using data contributed by thousands of Barracuda’s Web Filter users, it was found out that 50.2% of the businesses blocked their employees’ access to either one or both MySpace and Facebook Web sites. Specifically, 19.3% of the enterprises blocked both MySpace and Facebook, 24.6% blocked only MySpace and 6.3% blocked only Facebook.
Barracuda claimed that the number of businesses blocking employees’ Web access will increase by 23% each year.
Security related issues and productivity related issues are cited as the top two reasons for restricting employees from surfing the Web with 70% and 52%, respectively. In addition, bandwidth concerns and liability issues are also cited as the other reasons with 36% and 28%, respectively.
In a separate survey of 288 IT security professionals, it was also found out that half of the businesses that implemented restriction were using automated Web filtering systems.
Dean Drako, president and CEO of Barracuda Networks, in a post on the company’s Web site said: “Businesses are increasingly applying content-control mechanisms to protect their networks and maintain maximum organization productivity.”
Apparently, the above survey seems to indicate that employers are still divided on the issue of whether to restrict their employees access to social networking sites.
In UK, firms are losing more than £130 million a day from their employees who are supposed to be working and not wasting time visiting social networking sites. Click Social networking sites cost UK firms more than £130 million a day to read the story.
Likewise, these social networking sites appear to be a big risk to businesses as they are becoming a favorite hunting ground for identity theives.
Related Posts:
