Global social networking at the workplace increased by 19% in 2008 to 24% in 2010, according to Trend Micro’s 2010 corporate end user survey.
The survey, which included 1600 end users in the US, UK, Germany and Japan, found that the highest surge of social networking on the corporate network during the last two years was found among end-users within the UK, who tallied a 6% increase, and Germany, with a more than 10% leap.
The survey revealed that laptop users are much more likely than desktop users to visit social networking sites, as globally, social networking usage via laptops went up by 8% from 2008 to 2010. In the US, it increased by 10% and in Germany, up by 14%.
According to Trend Micro’s survey report, in 2010, 29% of laptop users versus 18% of desktop users surveyed said they frequented these sites at work. In Japan for 2010, small-company employees were much more likely than those from large companies to visit social networking sites 21% from small companies compared to 7% from large companies.
Trend Micro said that for all countries surveyed in 2010, laptop users who can connect to the Internet outside of company network are more likely to share confidential information via instant messenger, Web mail and social media applications than those who are always connected to a company’s network. This is significant in Germany and Japan.
As more and more people communicate through social networks, the more viable social networks become malware distribution platforms. KOOBFACE alone, the ‘largest Web 2.0 botnet,’ controls and commands around 51,000 compromised machines globally.
David Perry, global director of education at Trend Micro, said: "Social networking is an extremely important tool both for personal and professional-relationship building. And while most companies’ concerns around social networking in the office center around the loss of employee productivity, what they may not realise is that many social networking sites are built on interactive technologies that give cybercriminals endless opportunities to exploit end users, steal personal identities or business data, and corrupt corporate networks with malware.
"With the right security solutions and social networking guidelines implemented, there is no reason why companies who choose to allow their employees the option of visiting these sites should be overly exposed to these risks."
