New Web 2.0 threat: Add-ons and widgets
August 24, 2010 by Steve HannafordPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Security
Employees aren’t getting the IT security messages. That’s the conclusion of a recent study of 2,100+ data security administrators from five countries conducted by the Ponemon Institute for Check Point software.
In fact, 82% of those surveyed thought that “employees rarely or never consider corporate security threats in their everyday business communications.”
The biggest worry: social networking and Web 2.0 applications.
New threats are emerging due to the multitude of downloadable productivity tools, with new ones appearing all the time, including browsers extensions, widgets, and application add-ons. The problem is that while the basic program (such as the browser) might check out as relatively secure, the constant arrival of new add-ons initiated by end users expose systems to many new dangers from viruses and malware.
It’s not easy to control the use of such futures, since they are often genuine productivity aids. Plus the message of potential danger is hard to get through to end users, especially since IT departments are more prone to react to problems rather than to train employees.
Other conclusions from the survey include:
- Almost 50% see the threat from Web 2.0 usage as an urgent problem
- A key issue is finding ways to educate end users, and
- Also important is finding a way to offload at least some of the responsibility for system security with Web 2.0.
As with any sponsored survey, there is a hook: Check Point has new software (Application Control Software Blade) that helps IT departments and end users classify which downloadable add-ons and applications are present, and give help in deciding which ones might be more risky to use and blocking them. It’s an interesting concept, and you can read more about it here.
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Tags: add-ons, Check Point, Ponemon, Web 2.0
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