Secure Thinking When Online

If you run a small business or you manage the HR department of a large organisations you may well be aware of some of the issues surrounding staff use of social networking sites.

Social networking sites such as Facebook, professional networking sites like LinkedIn, and the various personal and professional blogging facilities, not to mention the micro-blogging sites like Twitter provide everyone with an opportunity to communicate with others with whom they have an affinity, voice their grievances and raise awareness of issues.

The problem for businesses and employers is when employees over-step the professional/social boundary.

If employees use social networking to make comments about the company, fellow employees, management or customers it can have a dire effect on business, perceptions and relationships both inside and external to the organisation.

Whilst many companies are aware of this and take some steps to mitigate the risk, it is often only done using a stick.  The general approach appears to be to discipline anyone who oversteps the mark - even when those marks aren't clearly defined.  This leads to further frustration and ultimately a breakdown in relations between employer and employee.

At Secure Thinking, we believe that this approach is wrong and have now decided to do something about it.  We are therefore offering a new awareness service - Secure Thinking When Online - where we will come on site at your company, or other location, and present to your staff about the risks of online behaviour, why the rules exist and how to protect themselves in their everyday internet based activities.

Mobile & Social Networking Apps

The subject of 3rd party "Apps" has raised its head again - this time on Google Android smart phones.

Apps on smart phones and on social networking sites are becoming ever more popular, but are the intentions of the App developers always in the best interests of the users?

A recent study of the apps on Android mobile phones has shown that the data they access and how they use it does not always tally with what the user authorises when they install the app.

This becomes even more of an issue where apps are downloaded or installed from other, shall we say less reputable sources.

There has also been occurrences of apps being developed reusing code segments created by other developers. This could lead to all kinds of unauthorised or malicious use of personal data which even the app creator doesn't know about.

So here are some simple rules to follow to enhance your security and protect your data:

• Don't use apps unless you really need to
• Only install apps from reputable sources
• Only install apps that are essential for you
• Remove apps you no-longer use
• Always read what data will be collected by an app
• If in doubt don't install it
• Don't provide an app with access to sensitive information or don't place sensitive information in a location an app has access to

Location Based Services & Security

It seems that more and more location based services are surfacing, jumping on the Social Media bandwagon.

Now, I'm not an old fuddy-duddy, and I can see how some of these services might be of use to businesses and potentially to individuals. I do however, have massive concerns over the privacy and security of these services.

Firstly, there is the physical security aspects. The information about where you are could be used to target you personally for malicious intent. This could range from mugging you as you leave a venue to burgling your home while you're out.

Then there are the issues of who has access to this information. There are various rules and laws which apply to data protection but under what jurisdiction are you accounts being managed? Who both from a staffing point of view and a company point of view has access to the information? Are your locations, movements and habits being observed, monitored and assessed for other reasons - some of these may be purely for targeted marketing but others could be for more insidious purposes?

I have been critical in the past of individuals who post on Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites with too much detail about where they are and what they are doing. Now we have services specifically designed to post and collect this information.

The simple fact of the matter is that people will leave themselves open because there are multiple, complicated options on the security settings page - will every user truly understand them all? And how do you know all of your "friends" are the only ones viewing your information? It could be that their accounts have been compromised or that you have mistakenly added a "friend" who isn't who you think it is.

My philosophy is this - whatever you share on the internet, even just to "friends" you should consider it public domain. Don't tell anyone anything, say you are or have been anywhere, or opine about something you wouldn't want your mother, your boss or the rest of the world to know! That way, you can protect yourself, your identity and your information.