WatchGuard: Social media apps top security threats

Popularity has its price. Facebook may be the most popular social networking site with more half a million of “active users”. But it also tops the list of the “worst applications” for any corporate network, according to research executives at WatchGuard.

The company recently released its list of the most risky web applications and social media applications top the list. Among these social media applications, Facebook is on top of the list, followed by Twitter, the second most popular social networking site. Others in the list are also the top favorites among social network users–YouTube and LinkedIn, the professional networking site.

WatchGuard said the popularity of these social media sites makes them top IT risks. “Attackers are attracted to this popularity because they know it means that they can get “return on investment” for their attacks,” said WatchGuard in a statement.

Vulnerable

As it is, social media websites also cost companies in terms of loss productivity and data. But social media websites are also risky to business because they “suffer from many technical vulnerabilities.”

“While Web 2.0 technologies provide many benefits, they also harbour many security vulnerabilities,” WatchGuard said. “The complexity of Web 2.0 applications can lead to imperfect code, which introduces social network sites to many Web application vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting {XSS) attacks.”

While WatchGuard does not have data specific to the Asia Pacific region, the company’s executives said that social media collectively pose a serious security threat in the region, particularly in light of a recent Gartner study which said that countries in the region are top users of social media websites.

Gartner said that in the Philippines, Facebook is the most visited Internet site. “The Philippines and Singapore also joined Indonesia in the top 10 countries with the highest penetration of Twitter worldwide, ranked sixth and ninth respectively,” Gartner added.

“Social media presents an overall threat vector that is particularly pernicious, especially in light of Gartner’s data,” said Eric Aarrestad, vice president of Marketing, WatchGuard.

Firewall

But WatchGuard is not saying that companies should totally prevent its employees from gaining access to social media sites. “Social media applications have a tremendous benefit for business communications and collaboration,” said Aarrestad in an email interview with mis-asia.com.

“Instead, WatchGuard recommends that IT administrators use the latest in firewall technology–Application Control,” said Aarrestad. “With Application Control, businesses can manage and limit certain social media apps to those who should have it, or more importantly, limit unproductive applications so that employees are not wasting time playing games and the like.”

According to Aarrestad, the next big thing in IT security is the ability of firewalls to control applications. “Businesses need to be able to control applications in order to ensure their networks, applications and data are safe, as well as to ensure employees are productive,” he said.