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How Social Media Can Compromise Your Company's Security Posture

The unbridled use of social media in the workplace represents a growing area of risk to an organization's information security posture. Social media networks present two distinct attack vectors: information leakage and false trust.Hackers, red teams and experienced penetration testers have used OSINT (open source intelligence style information gathering) for years. But now that social media use has reached critical mass, it is relatively simple to garner information about your company's employees, your organization and even your IT infrastructure. Using social profiles, information parsed from tweets, business directories, job postings, etc., cybercriminals can put together a complete dossier on employees of a target company without any 'real' hacking.Employees most often use social media both at home and at the workplace without differentiating between the two. On social media networks, users create profiles, manage privacy settings, and grant permission to who can and can't view their profiles. This creates a false sense of trust, where an individual feels comfortable disclosing detailed personal information about their life whether it be regarding relationships, issues at work, contact info, travels plans, likes and dislikes.In addition, because they believe they are within a "walled garden," they are more apt to click on unknown links (because they are recommended by a "friend.") Link shorteners can heighten the risk as a full executable string can hide behind what appears to be an innocuous link. Clicking on an unverified link is a risk that could lead to a full system compromise if a malicious website is behind it and there is potential for the introduction of viruses and malware to the organization's network.The complete list of threats and vulnerabilities from social media in the workplace is long. Other examples include: phishing attacks, disclosure of private company info, brand/reputational damage, harassment and privacy violations.Social media is not going away. More likely, the number of users and time spent on social networks will continue to rise exponentially, and your security risk will rise with it. Here's what you can do about it.5 Tips to Improve Security Against Social Media Threats1. Determine if social media use is necessary for your business. The security risk that social media presents for a company is significant. Whether or not to allow its use in the workplace is really a question of risk vs. benefit. If banning it outright seems too Draconina, consider limiting use to only the people that need it to perform their job function. 2. Provide training and security awareness to employees. This should include policies and procedures such as personal use in/out of the workplace, business use, nondisclosure of business content, and disallowed activities (installing apps, playing games, etc). 3. Use content monitoring technologies 4. Encourage URL lengthening tools like TinyURL to decode and verify shortened links. 5. Keep your hardware, software, anti-virus, and critical security patches up to date.	 	 		 			 				 					 						Written by Jenn Miller for Redspin, Inc. Check out our information security blog <a href="http://www.redspin.com/blog" target="_new">http://www.redspin.com/blog</a>About Redspin Redspin delivers the highest quality information security assessments through technical expertise, business acumen and objectivity. Redspin customers include leading companies in areas such as healthcare, financial services and hotels, casinos and resorts as well as retailers and technology providers. Some of the largest communications providers and commercial banks rely upon Redspin to provide an effective technical solution tailored to their business context, allowing them to reduce risk, maintain compliance and increase the value of their business unit and IT portfolios. Contact - <a href="mailto:info@redspin.com">info@redspin.com</a>

How Social Media Can Compromise Your Company's Security Posture

The unbridled use of social media in the workplace represents a growing area of risk to an organization's information security postur...

Is Protecting Your Company's Data A Lost Cause?

The technologies that make today's businesses more efficient and effective also make them more vulnerable to threats. Information security can be a constant struggle for corporations as they fight to keep ahead of the ever-changing computer data security hazards.Companies suffer data leaks as a result of anything from a stolen laptop to hackers to stolen paper records. According to the 2006 Cost of Data Breach Study from The Ponemon Institute, data breaches cost companies an average total of $4.7 million, or $182 per customer record. Companies with a poor data protection solution can not only run into legal trouble due to strict data security laws, but when data leaks occur, most corporations can run into image and public relations problems brought on by the scrutiny.So what can you do to make your computer data security more effective? Here are a few actions you can take to make sure your data protection solutions are always in tip-top shape.o	Evaluate often. Frequently assess your computer data security's functionality and find other data protection solutions to cover any vulnerable aspects. Additionally, you should establish a data security policy with frequent audits so your company can keep its security solution up-to-date.o	Implement and enforce password policies. Ensure that your employees have strong passwords that include the appropriate amount of letters, numbers and special characters. As part of the system, set parameters that force your employees to change their passwords regularly, as this will help maintain system security.o	Watch over your VPN. If you have any employees working from a remote location, keep in mind that these users can collect viruses or malware on their unprotected home computers, which means those threats could eventually skip over your network. So if your employees do work remotely, make sure that they are working from security-protected, company-issued laptops.o	Monitor your wireless. After you secure wi-fi access points, you should continue to keep informed of the risks. Some data thieves use a trick called the "evil twin" where they create a fake wireless network that has a name very similar to yours in an effort to trick workers into logging onto this impostor network where it's possible to get the users' login information.o	Hack your own wireless network. Hire an external auditor to conduct a "penetration test" on your network Though it sounds odd, hacking into your own network gives you a hacker's view of your network and is probably the most effective way to find out what your data protection solutions may lack.o	Always encrypt your data. No matter where the data is being physically stored, using strong cryptography is imperative when protecting sensitive data.o	Delete unused data. Collect the data you need and place it in a secure system, but once it is superfluous, make sure you delete it completely.If you pay close attention to your computer data security solutions and see that nothing is slipping through the cracks, you will have a much lower risk of your data getting into the wrong hands - saving your company from the consequences of public scrutiny and liability costs.	 	 		 			 				 					 						David Meizlik is the Product Marketing Manager for Security Solutions at Websense, Inc., the leading provider of web and content security solutions based in San Diego, California. His responsibilities include product positioning, go-to-market strategy and development, market and competitive analysis, program development, and management of all outbound marketing activities for Websense security products. Meizlik served as the marketing manager for emerging business opportunities, and the technology partner marketing manager building the Websense Web Security Ecosystem, an alliance of over 38 technology and distribution partners. For more information about Websense, visit <a href="http://www.Websense.com" target="_new">Websense.com</a>

Is Protecting Your Company's Data A Lost Cause?

The technologies that make today's businesses more efficient and effective also make them more vulnerable to threats. Information sec...