Infosecurity 2008: use of new technologies exposing UK firms to risk, report finds

This article seems to contradict the last... that adoption of new technologies is putting the UK businesses at risk. This may be a reason why there is slow adoption, or maybe they just don't understand how to implement proper security to utilize these technologies effectively.... you decide:

The adoption of new technologies is exposing UK companies to high levels of risk, according to a government security survey. The 2008 Information Security Breaches survey for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform reveals that although 17% of UK companies have adopted VoIP, only 30% have evaluated the security risk involved. IM was another area of concern because it exposes companies to the same risks as email, but half of companies using IM do not have any security controls in place. The report notes that financial companies take the most steps to mitigate IM risks, but said even in this sector, a third have taken no steps.


Computer weekly article

UK business slow to adopt IM use

Nearly three-quarters of UK companies block access to instant messaging (IM) services, according to an IT security firm. A recent survey of 1,000 enterprise IT directors, unveiled at Infosec Europe 2008, found that fear of data loss, time-wasting and other misuse outweighs the potential productivity benefits.

This sounds eerily like a survey in the US from 2002?

- ¾ of business block IM.
- Only 11 percent have an IM policy
- Even though FinServ industry is most likely to use IM, only 16% responded that they are monitoring?

Full report from survey here

IBM predicts technology will accelerate global expansion of small US businesses

Many more American small businesses will go global using collaboration technology to transform themselves from local businesses into global trading partners, predicted IBM executive Sean Poulley at the US Small Business Administration’s National Small Business Week conference. Poulley described how the evolution of technologies, such as Web conferencing, IM, software appliances and portals, offered as software-as-a-service applications will increasingly allow local businesses to transform into global trading partners.

PressMediaWire article

Internet fraud netting more millions

Crime continues to thrive online at the expense of Web surfers. Internet fraud involving auctions, identity theft and other activities cost US consumers a record $239 million in 2007, says a government report released Thursday. More crooks are using instant messaging (IM) to push identity theft and other malicious viruses onto the PCs of unsuspecting victims, says Don Montgomery, vice president of marketing for Akonix Systems, a maker of security software for IM and peer-to-peer networks. “We’re seeing more criminal attacks that are clearly more sophisticated and more organized than in the past,” he said.

Investors Article

Enterprise networks rife with unauthorized apps, study says

Think you know what types of software employees are running on your enterprise network? A new study suggests that you may know a lot less than you think. Employees in most enterprises are circumventing corporate security policies by deploying unauthorized applications, including video viewers, streaming audio, P2P and Google applications, according to a study that will be released next week by next-generation firewall vendor Palo Alto Networks. “It’s assumed that a big portion of the HTTP traffic that corporate networks support is used for Web browsing, such as checking the sports scores or online shopping,” says Steve Mullaney, vice president of marketing at Palo Alto. “But what we found was that 90 percent of HTTP traffic is not browsing – it’s Web-based applications like Web mail, instant messaging and Google apps.”

Employees use variety of tactics to circumvent IT policies and misuse the corporate network [Darkreading Article]

The impact of the consumerization of IT on IT security management

Driven by the proliferation of high-end consumer technology, such as PDAs, MP3 players and smartphones, we have seen increasing adoption of consumer technology in the corporate environment. Today’s personal mobile devices have already been proven to increase personal and employee productivity. Despite a rather limited range of mobile applications and services being used in typical corporate environments – mostly email, instant messaging and, less frequently, presence awareness – the use of smartphones is becoming increasingly commonplace in mid- to large-sized organizations. According to a recent report from Osterman Research, 15 percent of the corporate workforce used employee-supplied mobile devices in 2007, and a survey from TechTarget forecasts that this figure will exceed 25 percent in 2008.

Continuity Central