Companies need social network staff policies

Businesses are not developing social network usage policies for staff, in spite of being concerned about the downsides of these tools. Lost productivity, security problems and reputation issues can lead firms to restrict employee usage of social networks despite their usefulness, according to a study by employment services firm Manpower. Only one-fifth of companies surveyed worldwide had a formal policy in place for staff use of social networking sites. Among those that did have a policy, 63 percent said it was effective in combating lost productivity. Only 4 percent of companies surveyed worldwide said their reputation had been hurt by employee use of social networks. For more on this story see eMarketer.com. For tips on how to use social networking for marketing purposes, see the eBusiness in Focus section of this issue.

Cybercriminals value online user details

Internet users have been warned that their login details and passwords for web services such as online email and social networking accounts are becoming highly valued by cybercriminals. The value of stolen credentials is now determined according to what type of internet service the information can be used for. That's according to data security firm Imperva, which says the price of a file of user credentials depends greatly on how they can be exploited. For example, Twitter credentials have been known to change hands for up to USD1,000, Gmail information can fetch more than USD80, while a Hotmail account is only worth USD1.50. The Gmail rate reflects the fact that it has become a central service for business users and can provide access to cloud services such as Google Docs and Adword accounts. Read more on this story on ENN.ie.

Companies urged to focus on basic security

Organisations continue to overlook basic security measures, and more than four out of five security problems are linked to third-party suppliers, according to a study by payment security firm Trustwave. Its '2010 Global Security Report' said the most notable trend of 2009 was the continued existence of attack vectors despite the security industry's awareness of associated vulnerabilities for a decade or more. Companies large and small are moving forward with plans to implement new technology, while leaving basic security threats overlooked in legacy environments and IT systems. Third-party vendors or their software were responsible for more than 81 percent of investigations of a security incident or compromise. Third parties introduced many vulnerabilities, such as default passwords and insecure remote access applications. Read the press release and download a copy of the report at Trustwave.com.

Organisations told not to resist consumer IT

Companies have been advised not to resist the tendency for consumer technology to drive IT change in the workplace. At a UK conference, Gartner analyst Steve Prentice told delegates that businesses can no longer control employees' usage of new technologies, suggesting that an era of "social computing" had begun. Staff do not always use the technology provided for them at work because their own devices, and often working methods, are more mature, said Prentice. "It used to be the company with the control, but now consumers generally have more bandwidth and computer power at home than they do in the office." Ben Verwaayen, chief executive of Alcatel-Lucent, told attendees that part of the resistance to consumer technology in the workplace was down to generational differences. Read more on this story on V3.co.uk.

Here are some of the issues our forum members have been discussing in the last fortnight:

• What to do if someone has copied your web content view thread
• Moving from a blog to creating more content view thread
• Ensuring emails display correctly view thread

To join the eBusiness Discussion click here.

To view recent threads click here.

Choosing the right mobile device

Low-cost marketing: Social media

Case study: Nightline

Hashtag

The hashtag symbol (#) is enjoying an unprecedented level of attention these days thanks to its usage on social networking sites, in particular Twitter, to denote a topic, trend or keyword. Twitter members place the symbol next to a word (e.g. #ebusiness) when posting messages so that other users - and search engines - can easily find related tweets. Some Twitterers also use it to encourage their contacts to debate a particular topic.

Fitzwilliam Hotel, St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, February 18
Calyx presents this free round-table discussion forum on the subject of data leak prevention. National and international experts will discuss topics including privacy and customer data; data classification; managing, securing, auditing and controlling privileged accounts; data encryption; and full disk encryption and removable media devices.

Webinar, February 25
BSM is running this free webinar on ERP implementation. Attendees will learn about the key elements that lead to successful ERP implementations and understand the actions that can be taken to ensure projects are successful. Senior management, project managers and project team members from organisations that are about to embark on an ERP implementation project are invited to attend the webinar, which will be presented by John Donagher and Ursula Browne, Principal Information Systems Consultants with BSM.

Irish start-up SmartLeads offers a new way to get sales leads from the comfort of your desk. The concept is similar to traditional networking, whereby industry colleagues swap tips and leads, except everything happens online. The site is still in beta, but once you sign up by adding your company details, you can then offer and receive lead ideas from other members.