Malware sneaking into firms via social media.

• Position: CYBERSECURITY

The Osterman Research survey "Best Practices for Social Media Archiving and Security" found that enterprise and consumer-centered social media platforms that proliferate in organizations everywhere today are a threat.

This may be because, according to the report, only 54% of organizations surveyed have a written policy governing the use of public social media networks, while just 51% have policies governing enterprise social media usage.

This puts organizations at risk, as the survey found 82% of firms use Microsoft SharePoint for enterprise social purposes, while more than half of surveyed organizations use Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. And so it makes sense that the survey found 18% of organizations have had malware enter their network through social media, while an additional 25% have had a malware attack of unknown origin.

Michael Osterman, president of Osterman Research, told Legaltech News that this low percentage was "really not all that surprising" because IT tends to play catch-up with social media and other userdriven trends. However, he said he was surprised by social media's use as a source of malware.

Because malware can sneak into an organization through social media in many ways, securing the perimeter of social media communications is a critical part of a firm's risk management...