Web 2.0 Security Issues Discussed at New York Forum

Reason for Security Risks is That Services Were Never Designed for Company Usage

(06.05.08) - David Lavenda, WorkLight's vice president of marketing and product strategy, was in New York this week, speaking about the advantages, as well as the security threats, that Web 2.0 technology offers the modern company.

In a presentation at the Secure Enterprise 2.0 Forum, which was sponsored by WorkLight and Credit Suisse, Lavenda said that 2008 will be the year when Web 2.0 technology finally reaches the mainstream.

Citing a recent Forrester report, the WorkLight VP said that Facebook now has in excess of 70 million active users, whilst rival MySpace has around 110 million registered subscribers.

Against this backdrop, he told his audience that the up-and-coming iGoogle service also has 22 million users with personalised home pages, and is currently experiencing in excess of 260 per cent annual growth.

Despite this success, he cautioned over the need to ensure that employees' access to the new generation of Internet services is secure and avoid threats such as malware, infections and other IT security attack vectors.

Security concerns are not well understood by a lot of folks and they don't have a handle on using Web 2.0 in the enterprise, he told his audience.

According to Lavenda, Web 2.0 services are a whole new user experience and are not just a set of tools.

"They offer a personalised user experience that allows users to easily gather and aggregate information onto their browser, whether it is iGoogle, Facebook, MySpace or Yahoo," he said.

The problem with Web 2.0 services, he told his New York audience, is that unfettered access poses a number of risks to companies, including data theft, information leakage and liability for information misuse.

The reason for these security risks, he said, is that these services were never designed for company usage.

Commenting after this presentation, Lavenda said that this is where WorkLight comes into the frame, as its services allow organisations in both the public and private sector to use Web 2.0 facilities, but without the attendant security risks.

"Our enterprise Web 2.0 services give companies access to a secure and highly personalised set of facilities, but without the security risks firms would experience by accessing blogs, wikis and social networking sites directly," he added.

For more on Lavenda's presentation: http://tinyurl.com/5odl5c

(WorkLight: ra)