A new study suggests the internet telephone service Skype is being banned by a large number of IT departments due to security concerns, ITNews reports.
The findings, which were are based on research conducted at the AusCERT conference, indicate 40 per cent of respondents were blocking Skype as a result of concerns over information leaks.
The study also found that a third of respondents banned social media site Facebook and web based email program Hotmail at their organisations.
However, the survey authors point out that Australian IT managers are supporting employee use of other digital media communication tools.
They say nearly half of the survey respondents provided employees with an internal instant messaging tool, such as Microsoft Sharepoint, while a quarter offered their own blogging software.
I find this article very strange as most employees have access to telephones, mobile phones, Yahoo, ICQ, MSN...and email. How can an IT department improve security by banning Skype alone? I believe Skype and other similar tools can be very valuable for business, but it needs to form part of its ‘Internet Usage Policy’ and the organisation needs to be very clear what it can be used for and when it can be used.
Let’s face it security needs to be constantly evolving and when new tools are introduced to the work place by the company or by its employees there is a need for guidelines, and clear policies.
www.3gb.com.au/blog/
Posted by: emanuel@3gvision.com.au | 18 July 2009 at 10:31 AM