Social Networking and the Security Inflection Point

“A Strategic Inflection Point is that which causes you to make a fundamental change in business strategy. Nothing less is sufficient.”

 This quote came from Andy Grove, Intel Co-founder and former CEO.  And, while he said this at an annual meeting in 1998, his philopsophy is timeless.  In my opinion, social networking is at the crux of this inflection point.  Enterprises recognize that they must begin to embrace social networking – with its extraordinary potential– but doing so has its own set of challenges.

 The Gen-Ys entering the workforce have been raised in an instant communication digital age. For them, social media is how they communicate now and how they expect to communicate in the future as business professionals. Corporations that have strict security policies tell me that their ability to hire fresh talent is difficult because they are competing with companies that have a more “open” social media policy. 

 On the flip side, many corporations are leveraging full-blown social media strategies to reach out to their customers. On my own personal Facebook account, I’ve “friended” a number of artists, as well as local and global companies I admire, and it’s evident that it’s one of the most cost effective means of communicating directly with a captive audience. So, doesn’t it seem ironic that the same companies that are using this medium to market their products are the same ones that are locking down their employees’ access to it?

 But let’s be fair.  The businesses that are limiting access to sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin are simply worried that too much information sharing will result in lost productivity, data leaks, and sometimes a diluted culture. But, even more concerning to IT security people is that the sites most visited by employees are malware magnets that have been exploited by hackers — stealing identities, distributing viruses, and sending spam.  And, the security risks are only getting worse. 

 So where’s the balance?  How do we inject fundamental change into a social fabric that has such strong fibers? I believe the solution is to allow corporations to embrace social media, while providing them with technology that allows them to monitor, or limit, its use. These technologies can also be leveraged to ensure that corporate sensitive information does not inadvertently (or purposefully) leak onto these open platforms.  The McAfee Cloud Security Platform is an option that integrates modules capable of protecting against the worst social networking has to offer, and may be the only way to make today’s security strategic inflection point a positive one.

 McAfee launched this platform last year to protect data to and from the cloud through the major traffic channels: Web, Email and Authentication/Identity – including social media platforms. We’ve continued to innovate and enhance the products included in this platform to secure businesses from growing online threats.  I encourage you to learn more about how the McAfee Cloud Security Platform can help you and your business be protected while allowing social networking to thrive.

By Pat Calhoun

Free Mobile Apps = Drained Battery

Go though your smarphone right now. Look at each app and seriously consider whether you need it. If not, delete it. Then, determine which of the free apps are worth upgrading to the paid versions, since free apps that contain advertising that puts an additional drain on your battery.

Using a special energy-profiling tool, researchers from Microsoft and Purdue University found that when a mobile is run over a 3G connection, Android and Windows Mobile apps operating third-party ad services dedicate up to 75% of their power requirements to ads rather than game play.

Applications often communicate with their sources, transferring data back and forth between your mobile phone and the app’s home server. This information could be about you, gleaned from your mobile use, or it could be new advertising. The most effective way to deal with this is to either delete the app, or in some cases you are given an option to prevent it from running in the background.

But don’t stop there. There are numerous other battery drains affecting your smartphone. To preserve battery life:

•     Set your phone to lock automatically after being idle for one minute
•     Disable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when they are not in use
•     Disable all unnecessary notifications
•     Disable any unused location services

It’s also a good idea to get yourself set up with extra chargers for your car, travel bag, and various rooms of your home. I like getting a mix of extra long and very short cables for different applications. They can often be found inexpensively on eBay.

By Robert Siciliano