The Perils of Web 2.0

Social media use is on federal IT decisionmakers' list of the biggest security risks, according to a new report from Lumension, a security company.

The Federal Cybersecurity Outlook for 2010 found that 25 percent of those surveyed saw Web 2.0 technologies as a significant security risk for federal agencies. Non-security agencies were more likely to identify this as a concern than security agencies.

Respondents indicated that social media use is likely to grow in the coming year, which will only increase security risks. Sixty-three percent indicated that Web 2.0 will increase greatly or somewhat. As federal agencies nail down formal social media policies, as the Defense Department recently announced, will the cybersecurity be an important factor for officials to consider?