Highlights from Sophos threat report.

The recently released Sophos Threat Report claims that with more than 50 percent of companies allowing free and open access to social networking sites:

• 67 percent of users were spammed on social networks – double from when the survey began in 2009 (33.4 percent)
• 40 percent were sent malware

• 43 percent were phished – more than double from when the survey began in 2009 (21 percent)

The answer is not totally blocking access to social network sites. People in marketing and sales need access, but they don’t need to be playing Farmville. Also totally blocking all aspects of social network sites might create a morale issue.

Anti-virus can play a role, but a defense-in-depth strategy is needed that includes Next Generation Firewalls.