Social Networking and the Government -- Weighing the Benefits vs. the Pitfalls

Organizations everywhere have been rapidly adopting the use of social networking tools over the last couple of years and recent data suggests that the use of these tools has exploded exponentially in enterprises during the last six months of 2009. For more on that phenomenon, see this recent story in Government Computer News. During its first year, the Obama Administration has encouraged the adoption of social networking tools by federal government agencies to help increase information sharing, improve collaboration, and foster more transparency in government.

Unfortunately, as the federal government adopts these tools, cyber thieves and other nefarious actors are leveraging the adoption of social networking to launch more and more online attacks against government systems with the intent to steal sensitive data. Malware picked up at social networking sites is becoming a bigger problem and harder and harder to detect, and cyber criminals are scouring social networking forums to collect information that can be pieced together to conduct more advanced social engineering to steal sensitive information and in some cases, to perpetrate espionage.

Speaking of those challenges, security evangelist Hugh Thompson provided a fascinating look into how cyber criminals are leveraging social networking sites and tools to steal and collect sensitive and proprietary data at the recent RSA Conference Europe in London.  I would encourage you to listen to Hugh’s presentation.

These emerging threats should give us all pause about where, when and how we are leveraging these tools in our professional and personal lives. I had the privilege of interviewing RSA’s Mischel Kwon and Microsoft’s Cheri McGuire about these issues in a recent podcast as part of the RSA Conference 365 series on emerging security policy and technology issues that are having an impact on the public sector.  As government agencies adopt more of these tools, we all need to understand the threats and what we can do to mitigate them while still enjoying the benefits of leveraging these emerging technologies.

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