September 2011
Featured in this insight: IT & telecommunications, Police, crime & community safety
Rise in UK companies blocking social media due to security concerns: An online survey by information-security company Clearswift has revealed a rise in UK businesses that have opted to block employee access to social networking sites over the past year.
The study polled 1,529 employees and 906 managers in the UK, US, Australia, Germany, Japan and the Netherlands.
In total, there has been a 20% increase in the number of companies blocking social media site access, with 91% of these listing their reason for doing as concern over security and data loss.
Chief Operating Officer of Clearswift, Andrew Wyatt, has said in an interview with SC magazine that this increase follows from a "knee-jerk reaction" to media coverage about data loss.
He commented: “Blocking the internet does not stop employees using it at home. There has not been enough education to get a hold on what is sensible and what is not with social media, and we are learning by mistakes.”
In addition, Mr Wyatt said lack of control when it comes to social media has made companies wary of it. Of the managers surveyed, 58% were concerned about security fears, 46% were worried about the loss of confidential data via employees and 41% had fears of data loss through external hacking.
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