Poll: 50 per cent of companies ban Facebook

Aug 22, 2007, 21:55 GMT

San Francisco - Some 50 per cent of US workers are blocked from accessing the popular social networking site Facebook on their work computers, according to a study conducted by information technology security and control firm Sophos.

In a poll of 600 workers, 43 per cent said their company was blocking access to Facebook, while an additional 7 per cent reported that usage of the social networking Web site was restricted to only those with a specific business requirement.

The poll also showed that 66 per cent of workers were concerned that their colleagues were sharing too much information on Facebook, which could lead to identity theft and targeted phishing attacks against the company.

According to Sophos, a large number of Facebook profile pages contain users' employment details, which could be used together with other stolen information, by cyber criminals bent on committing corporate fraud or infiltrating company networks.

LloydsTSB, Credit Suisse, and Goldman Sachs are among the companies reported to have blocked employees from visiting Facebook.

The poll results showed that companies are split on the question of social networks.

'Some believe it to be a procrastinator's paradise, which can lead to identity theft if users are careless. Others either see it as a valuable networking tool for workers, or are too nervous of employee backlash if the site is suddenly blocked,' said Sophos executive Brett Myroff.

'Companies need to make up their own mind as to whether they want to allow users to access social networking Web sites like Facebook during office hours. If workers are given access to these sites, it is, however, imperative that they are taught best practices to ensure they are not putting their personal and corporate data at risk. Five minutes spent learning the ins-and-outs of Facebook's privacy settings, for instance, could save a lot of heartache later,' he said.