Should you be allowed to use social media at work?

Should social media be allowed in the workplace?

Social media has become a large part of modern life but should it be a part of our working lives? You don’t want employees using social media when they’re supposed to be working, but could it also be a security threat?

Common social media scams aim to generate ad revenue or click/likes. Once generated, they later use the page/post to send out links to malware or other potentially dodgy websites.

Policies and boundaries

The key is an effective set of policies and boundaries alongside staff education. For security to be effective, policies and boundaries need to be established.

  • Outline what is/isn’t acceptable to use or post on social media sites during working hours on hardware owned by the company.
  • Employers need to have a clear procedure for data monitoring and intrusion detection.
  • Staff need to be educated on the types of attacks that are currently or have recently made the rounds.
  • Internet security software should be installed and updated regularly.
  • Passwords should be changed often for social network sites.
  • If possible use 2 factor authentication for added security.
  • Limit the personnel that are allowed access to corporate social networking applications.
  • It’s also very important to make sure that each piece of software used for social networking is configured with the optimal security settings.

For more information on how to keep your business secure, and the added security products you can buy through Smart Protect, get in touch.