Security pros get comfortable with social networking

Security pros at the office once shunned social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. They were considered high-risk applications that kept employees from working, reports CSOOnline.com. But now, many security teams have stopped blocking these websites and even allow workers to use them during the day, a new survey from the Security Executive Council says.

Eighty-six percent of the organizations that responded to the council's poll give workers the green light to use Web 2.0 applications. This is probably a smart move, because so many CSOs and CISOs use social networking sites to vet new employees, banning such sites would appear hypocritical.

According to CSOOnline.com, Leslie Lambert, CISO of Sun Microsystems asked the audience at a recent CSO Perspectives Conference in Clearwater, Florida, "How many of you have hired someone recently without looking them up first on LinkedIn?" Very few hands went up in response.

So, if you are clinging to the old-school mentality that Web 2.0 doesn't belong in the workplace. It might be time to reevaluate your at-work policies and embrace social networking.

For more on social networking at the workplace:
- check out this CSOOnline.com article [1]