British SMBs are increasingly using social media as an essential business tool but many are unaware of the security risks present in such networking sites, according to a new research by networking company NETGEAR.
The study found that 47% of organisations polled use social media to stay in touch with their customers, while 59% of respondents said that they use tools such as Facebook and Twitter to communicate with their colleagues.
However, only 29% of SMBs have made moves to educate their staff about the risks posed by Web 2.0 and best practice in avoiding malware, found the study.
Furthermore, only 42% of SMBs have a policy in place which encourages employees to regularly update their security settings.
The research specifically targeted Business Owners and IT Managers in small and medium enterprise organisations employing 50-250 staff.
NETGEAR senior product marketing manager for SMB Network Security Jason Leung said that the real danger with social media is that one can as rapidly pass on a threat as one can pass on information.
Leung added, "In fact, social media is the biggest security challenge posed to SMBs, since it can conspire to point you towards websites that might be infected. Your friend or colleague shares a link with you, so you make an assumption that it’s safe since it’s come from somebody you trust. But this simply isn’t the case."
NETGEAR said that ignorance towards security threats is compounded by the likelihood of British SMBs having out-of-date security measures in place.
The research found that more than half of organisations have not updated their security settings in the past six months.
The majority of SMBs have also failed to put in place any formal guidelines which insist that staff update their security settings on a regular basis. Furthermore, only 34% of businesses have implemented a content filtering system as a means of safeguarding their computers from malware.
"One of the main issues among SMBs is that online security is – to all intents and purpose – a tax upon the business. Business owners and decision makers have a hundred other priorities on their list which are seen as being more worthy of their time, attention and investment; they’d rather spend their resource on looking at what will increase sales and improve customer service," explains Leung.
"The fact of the matter is that investment in up-to-date security protection and education of the workforce is an essential step in safeguarding the productivity and IP of the business."
"By putting multiple layers of protection in place – ranging from general employee awareness, to anti-virus programmes to content filtering systems – SMBs have the best chance of stopping any malicious threats from slipping through the net. At the very least, organisations should re-evaluate their security measures on an annual basis in order to stay on top of the threats that are out there. This needn’t be a costly process, since they should look to reliable, affordable, simple technology which can best protect them."
