Web 2.0 Security Concerns

The personal and professional lives of employees will continue to blend, and workers will seek to mirror the convenient home computing experience at the office

Workers will increasingly build social networks in the corporate environment with the same dynamics that drive their popularity in the consumer world

As the workforce becomes younger and more tech-savvy, employees will continue to introduce consumer tools and services into the enterprise, with and without the blessing of IT departments. These tools will include web-based services, and collaboration and social networking tools

Businesses both large and small will seek to increase employee acquisition/retention and productivity through the use of flexible, scalable Enterprise 2.0 solutions within their “walled gardens”

Organizations will look to improve effectiveness and efficiency by facilitating access to proprietary data through the use of consumer Web 2.0 tools

Enterprise social networks will blossom in 2008, as social tools with open APIs (like Facebook) drive adoption

Forward-thinking organizations will anticipate these developments and harness, rather than hinder, Web 2.0 technologies in a secure and innovative manner

Security threats that target corporate data via Web 2.0 tools and services will become a topic of high priority

The top concerns for corporations will be most visible in the following areas: data theft, access control, identity protection, privacy, information leakage and liability for information misuse by employees

Attempts to handle these concerns will be reminiscent of experiences with email and Web 1.0 adoption in their initial corporate introduction

of consumer-style tools without adequate safeguards may lead to a high-profile security incident in 2008, prompting IT departments to seek out Enterprise 2.0 solutions with top-of-the-line protection