Businesses must change their mindset on security to help ensure that their networks and vital corporate information are protected from evolving security threats, according to a report.

The Cisco 2010 Midyear Security Report, published by Cisco, the worldwide leader in networking, added that tectonic shifts – the increasing use of social networking, the proliferation of network-connected mobile devices, and virtualization – continue to alter the security landscape.

As a result, enterprise professionals must act immediately to put effective security practices into place in order to protect their companies’ reputation and maintain a competitive edge, the report said.

It outlined five recommendations for improving corporate security. 

• Enforce granular per-user policies for access to applications and data on virtualized systems
• Set strict limits for access to business data
• Create a formal corporate policy for mobility
• Invest in tools to manage and monitor cloud activities
• Provide employees with guidance on the use of social media in the workplace

Cisco Security Intelligence Operations research found that 7 percent of global sample of users accessing Facebook spend an average of 68 minutes per day playing the popular interactive game “FarmVille”, the report said.

“Mafia Wars” was the second most popular game, with 5 percent of users each racking up 52 minutes of play daily, while “Café World,” played by 4 percent of users, accounted for 36 minutes of wasted time per day.

Although loss of productivity is not a security threat, cyber criminals are believed to be developing ways to deliver malware via these games, the report said.

The report includes several other findings and concludes with recommendations to help enterprises strengthen their security.

“Technological innovations are fundamentally changing the way people live, work, play, share information and communicate with each other,” said Tarek Houbballah, systems engineering manager, Cisco.

“Because consumers are typically the early adopters, enterprises often struggle to adapt existing polices to address their employees’ preferred use of technology. With a number of tectonic forces converging in the marketplace, now is the time for enterprises to transform their IT model to accommodate the emerging borderless network and increasing security challenges,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service