A review of social media security risks and mitigation techniques
| Published date | 27 April 2012 |
| Date | 27 April 2012 |
| Pages | 171-180 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13287261211232180 |
| Author | Wu He |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
A review of social media security
risks and mitigation techniques
Wu He
Department of Information Technology and Decision Sciences,
Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, USA
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine social media security risks and existing
mitigation techniques in order to gather insights and develop best practices to help organizations
address social media security risks more effectively.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper begins by reviewing the disparate discussions in
literature on social media security risks and mitigation techniques. Based on an extensive review,
some key insights were identified and summarized to help organizations more effectively address
social media security risks.
Findings – Many organizations do not have effective social media security policy in place and are
unsure of how to develop effective social media security strategies to mitigate social media security
risks. This paper provides guidance to organizations to mitigate social media security risks that may
threaten the organizations.
Originality/value – The paper consolidates the fragmented discussion in literature and provides an
in-depth review of social mediasecurity risks and mitigation techniques. Practical insights are identified
and summarized from an extensive literature review. Sharing these insights has the potential to
encourage more discussion on best practices for reducing the risks of social media to organizations.
Keywords Social media, Securityrisks, Security strategy, Securitypolicy, Data security,
User educationand training, Secure online behaviour,Risk mitigation techniques,Risk management
Paper type General review
1. Introduction
Social media offers companies and organizations a variety of attractive business
opportunities and benefits. As a result, the use of social media has expanded rapidly over
the past several years. The adoption and participation of social media continues to grow
in a variety of industries worldwide (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010; Qualman, 2009; Safko
and Brake, 2009). On the other hand, it is unfortunate to note that social media sites such
as Blog, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn can pose a variety of serious sec urity
risks and threats to unwary users and their organizations. A recent global stu dy
(Ponemon, 2011) surveyed 4,640 IT and IT security practitioners in 12 countries
regarding social media security issues. More than 50 percent of respondents reported an
increase in malware to their systems, due to their use of social media. About 63 percent of
respondents said that social media in the workplace represents a serious security risk to
their organizations. A recent study by leading security vendor Kaspersky Labs (200 9)
shows that social media sites are ten times more effective at delivering malware than the
previous popular methods of e-mail delivery. By the end of 2008, the Kaspersky Lab
collection contained more than 43,000 malicious files relating to social networking sites.
The number of malicious programs received by the Kaspersky Labs which target
popular social networking sites demonstrates that users of social networking sites are an
increasingly popular target.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1328-7265.htm
Social media
security risks
171
Journal of Systems and Information
Technology
Vol. 14 No. 2, 2012
pp. 171-180
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1328-7265
DOI 10.1108/13287261211232180
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