Barracuda Networks

Messaging, both professionally and personally, would not be complete these days without including social networks. Even those earlier resisters are now relenting and joining social media networks. In Q2 of this year, LinkedIn claimed that membership had climbed from 61 million to 116 million in the span of one year, while reporting revenues of $121 million, which is a 120% increase from revenues posted last year, according to The Radicati Group. The steady growth of social networks, with Facebook clearly leading the pack, parallels the incredible growth of email of days gone by, and just as email became a target for malware and other ills, social networks today are experiencing an increase in threats to security and privacy.

Even though Facebook has been under scrutiny for its privacy policies, people still come to the site in droves. In a recent study by Barracuda Labs, researchers found that one in five people has been negatively affected by information that was exposed on a social network. But is this enough to drop the social network as a messaging medium? No, as another finding points out, ease of use and friends using the network are almost equally valued to privacy and security concerns.

And are companies concerned about security or privacy when employees are online? Of the hundreds that participated in the survey, 86 percent felt that employee behavior on social networks could endanger company security. However, only 31 percent of respondents reported limitations on Facebook. LinkedIn was the least blocked in the workplace at 20 percent of respondents stating limitations being experienced.

Malware is creeping up more and more in social networks, of the survey respondents, one in four has received a virus or malware on a social network. “Social networks are a significant part of how we communicate with one another. At the same time, the dangers associated with social networking have climbed exponentially”, warns Dr. Paul Judge, chief research officer and vice president for Barracuda Networks. “The fact that nine out of 10 users already have been attacked proves that attackers are taking over social networks.”

This is an area of particular interest to Barracuda Labs, as earlier this year the company launched Profile Protector, a free service that protects social networking users against malicious threats on Facebook and Twitter. For more on the visual report, download The 2011 Social Networking Security & Privacy Study or simply view the beautiful graphics accompanying the information.

October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month. Reports such as this one are good to share with your users and executives. As always, safe messaging.