Social networking sites are breeding grounds for spam, scams, scareware, and a host of other attacks hidden in the millions of tweets and status updates across the web. Due to many publicly disclosed breaches and compromises, these attacks can be very real and are serious threats to many organisations.  There are many Trojans, worms, phishing and other attacks targeted specifically at the users of these sites. Just recently, Twitter was targeted in a fake anti-virus scam which made use of link shortening, to hide the attack site address, and encourage users to click.

Social media is quite a challenge for IT security experts looking to ensure their organisation’s network is not open to outside threats. With an increasing number of employees accessing social networking sites during breaks, the potential for one of them to download a virus is huge. As a business, it is important that employees are made aware of the security threats on social networking sites. One of the solutions for this problem is to create a code of conduct for social networking and ensure all employees are trained to spot potential threats.

Ensuring that patching and anti-virus systems are kept up-to-date is also key. All PCs should be equipped with an internet security program that can detect in-the-cloud threats before they can even enter the local system. Also installing appropriate software updates on the system to keep it well protected against the most recently released malware online.

As a business, it is necessary and understandable to be cautious about the potentially harmful effects of user-generated content on social networking sites, but with a responsible attitude and the right moderation, it can bring many business benefits.