Social media in workplace represents a serious security risk and most organizations do not have necessary security controls in place to mitigate the risk, according to Global Survey on Social Media Risks. The survey was conducted by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by Websense.

The study includes inputs of 4,640 IT and IT security practitioners, with an average of 10 years experience in the field, from Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Mexico, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States.  

More than 50 percent of the respondents report an increase in malware due to social media use. In India, 48 percent of the respondents said viruses and malware infections are increasing as a result of the social media use and 30 percent said they were not sure.

Most respondents of the survey in India agreed that the use of social media in workplace is important to achieve business objectives. However, 64 percent of the respondents believed employees’ use of social media in the workplace represents a serious security threat to the organization. However, only 33 percent believed they have the necessary controls in place to mitigate or reduce the risk posed by social media.

Nearly 65 percent respondents said that their organizations do not enforce a policy that addresses the acceptable use of social media in the workplace. In India, 39 percent of the respondents said they were not aware of a policy that informs employees about the acceptable use of social media in the workplace or were unsure if such a policy existed (24 percent). Of those organizations that have a policy, 49 percent of respondents said the policy is enforced.

As per the study, 47 percent of employees in India spend more than 30 minutes each day on non-business social media activities. Approximately 90 percent of the respondents said that increase in the use of social media in the workplace has diminished employee productivity and 73 percent of the respondents said that it affected IT bandwidth.