But companies' social media isn't about "liking," "friending," "up-voting" or "digging." For organizations, there is the real risk of using social media, ranging from brand damage to exposing sensitive information that would lead to lawsuits.
Here are five of the biggest threats to social media security:
5. Mobile Applications
The rise of social networks is inseparable from the revolution in mobile computing, which has generated a large industry in the development of mobile applications. Naturally, these can be mobile devices of their own or issued by companies, employees usually download dozens of applications.
But sometimes it downloads more than they expected. In early March, Google removed more than 60 apps containing malware from its Android Market. Some of the malware has been designed to reveal the user's private information to a third party, replicate the devices on others, destroy the user's data, or even impersonate the device's owner.
And all because this new game is supposed to be even better than Angry Bird!
4. Social engineering
This is a favorite of scammers everywhere, social engineering has been around since before computer networks. But the rise of the internet makes it easier for scammers to find potential victims.
Social media has taken this threat to a new level for two reasons: 1) People are more willing than ever to share personal information about themselves online via Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and Myspace, and 2) social media fosters a dangerous level of trust. From there it's a small step to talk to your new friend about your company's secret project. That your new friend might actually be able to help with if they would only give you a password to access a protected file on your corporate network. Just for this time.
3. Social Media Sites
Sometimes hackers go straight to the source, injecting malicious code into a social networking site, including within advertising and through third-party applications. On Twitter, shortening URLs (popular due to the 140-character tweet limit) can be used to trick users into visiting malicious sites that can extract personal (and company) information if accessed through a workstation. Twitter is especially vulnerable to this method because it's easy to retweet so it could eventually be seen by hundreds of thousands of people.
2. Your employees
You knew this was coming, but even the most responsible employees have lapses in their judgment, make mistakes, or behave emotionally. No one is perfect all the time.
But dealing with an indiscreet comment in the office is one thing, if the comment is made on a social media-related work account, then it cannot be recovered. Ask Ketchum PR Vice President James Andrews, who two years ago triggered an infamous tweet tearing apart the city of Memphis, the hometown of a small Ketchum customer called FedEx (FDX), the day before he was to make a presentation to more than 150 FedEx employees. The tweet was discovered by FedEx employees, who in a letter emailed to Ketchum's headquarters in protest. Andrews had to make a public and humiliating apology.
Remember, this was not a low-level employee not adjusted to the corporate mission. This was a high-level executive and he could damage his company's brand and jeopardize one or more customer accounts. Imagine what a disgruntled, low-level, effortless employee might be able to do with social media tools.
1. The lack of a social media policy
This is entirely yours. Without a social media policy for your company, you make an invitation to disaster, you can't let go of employees on social media, and we urge them to "represent" us. It is necessary to specify the objectives and parameters of your company's initiative on social networks. Otherwise you will get exactly what you are inviting chaos and trouble.
Who can use social media on behalf of the organization? and what is allowed to say? are the two most obvious questions that need to be addressed in a social media policy. It is necessary to make all this clear or employees will make decisions for themselves on the fly. Sound like a good thing?
The two most related imperatives of social media policy are: 1) Organizations should conduct adequate training for employees, if only to clarify issues regarding official social media policies, and 2) A social media initiative has a coordinator and champion. And that means a social media manager
Translated by Carlos Solis
Source: CIO
