FaceTime Survey Reveals 38 Percent of IT Managers Ignoring Web 2.0 Risks

A survey by FaceTime has revealed that 38 percent of IT managers are ignoring Web 2.0 risks.

 

The fifth annual survey, conducted in December 2009, compared end user attitudes with IT perceptions and included 1654 responses. This data was then compared with actual traffic gathered from 155 FaceTime Unified Security Gateway (News - Alert) security appliances deployed globally.

 

The survey showed dramatic divide between IT manager perception and actual web 2.0 usage.

 

As per the survey social media and Web 2.0 applications have been adopted by 99 percent of end users to support business processes, even though 38 percent of IT professionals believe there is no social networking present on their networks.

 

According to the survey, web chat also featured in 95 percent of organizations, yet was recognized by only 31 percent of IT Managers showing vivid differences between IT estimates and reality. IT Managers also reported an increasing requirement for the logging of IM (40 percent of IT respondents) and content posted to social networks (27 percent of IT respondents).

 

“Use of Internet applications has grown from being present in 78 percent of enterprises in 2007 to 99 percent of enterprise networks, with tools ranging from public IM, Skype (News - Alert), file sharing, web conferencing, and IPTV becoming commonplace,” the survey pointed out.

 

Around 53 percent of end users indicated that newer Web 2.0 tools are “better than those provided by my employer.”

 

The survey pointed out that social networking use for business has grown exponentially. While 95 percent of users now use social networking for business reasons, 61 percent said they use public social media sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube (News - Alert) every day, up from 51 percent in 2008.

 

“The power of social networks and public Web 2.0 tools for business is proven, as we've seen in the universal adoption by end users, even alongside corporate-provided tools. The IT function needs to take a serious look at the reality of what is happening on their networks and find ways to securely support public Web 2.0 applications,” said Sarah Carter, director of marketing for FaceTime (News - Alert).

 

Carter said that the company’s survey not only shows dramatic differences between what IT professionals believe is taking place on the network and what end users are actually using, but also shows a significant rise in the requirement to secure, control and retain content in the social networking and Web 2.0 space.

 

While malware attacks through Web 2.0 applications continue to be the largest concern for IT professionals – 69 percent of organizations reported at least one Web 2.0-related attack – worries about employee productivity with relation to Web 2.0 have fallen significantly, with just 24 percent reporting productivity concerns as an issue, down from 74 percent in 2007.

 

Fourteen percent report data leakage over social networks and 18 percent indicate incidents occurring over social networks where disciplinary action was required.