Half Of Employers Now Block Access To Facebook

Hot on the heels of a report out of Australia, which suggested that employees hanging out on Facebook cost their employers billions of dollars in lost productivity, a new poll shows that about half of all employers are blocking their employees from accessing the social network in the workplace, and security – or rather the lack of it – is their other concern.

The report from security outfit Sophos says that 43 percent of workers polled said Facebook is off limits completely, and another 7 percent said access is restricted depending on whether or not it’s needed for a particular job.  On the security side, company information like employment history and mobile phone numbers routinely turn up on Facebook, and some execs think that’s an invitation for ID theft and corporate phishing attacks – especially in light of the fact that over 40 percent of Facebook users are willing to give up personal information to complete strangers who ask to be added as friends.

As for the 50 percent of companies which don’t block access, some of them say they see it as a valuable networking tool, and others say they’re worried about the backlash they might get if they do block it.

Read more at C|Net.