Are you Web2.0 Savvy?

Web2.0 social networking is now a part of our cultural fabric. Once considered a casual pastime for teenagers it has now exploded into “the must do thing” for corporate businesses. The transition from being a teenage e-tool to one that the corporate world is looking at as a must participate tool has come a long way.

Bookstores are filling with the views and angles of authors on the Web2.0 social networking phenomena. One book in particular has caught my attention. “Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom” is a cute title that amply describes the initial perception of social networking’s impact on businesses. A younger generation of professionals that are Web2.0 social mavericks have been integrating their work, marketing, social activities and networking via the social networks and the older crowd occupying the board rooms is just now starting to see its importance.

The book authored by Matthew Fraser and Sounitra Dutta and published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., provides a clear picture on the impact that Web2.0 is having on our lives and angles it against the corporate boardroom reluctance to embrace the technology as a tool to harness the benefits of collaborative environments.

Data center and IT professionals are no strangers to working online and for the most part are already engaged in some form in the social network scene. For instance, the growth of blogging has carried many well known IT bloggers into the social networking stardom. Blogging is only a part of the Web2.0 scene that many IT socialites are familiar with.

Small technology social groups formed within networks such as LinkedIn and Facebook have exploded. The desire to connect with others who speak and understand IT has always been around, but now Web2.0 has made it easier for them to do so.

The latest craze gaining publicity has been Twitter. News outlets, politicians and journalists are twittering daily. Twitter (www.twitter.com) allows its users to send a 140 character message to the Twitter community (which can be keyword searched) and more specifically directly to your followers.

News agencies and politicians are using this tool to share with their followers and constituents on the latest updates of their day. This new tool provides those who follow an “insider” view with instant news the moment it happens. Recently CNN reported that during a news conference attendees were frantically twittering on their phones to the Twitter network on what they were seeing, hearing and feeling at the moment it happens.

The social networking craze is and needs to be a part of every marketing manager’s daily routine. If you are not on LinkedIn (the adult version of Facebook) or MySpace, Twitter, ReJaw, Plaxo or countless of other networks worldwide then you are missing an opportunity.

The social networks are a direct connection to a younger generation that have and will continue to influence the IT industry. The social networks can provide you an insider view and opinion on products, services or just about anything. If you want to get the pulse on what is going on then you need to invest some time and submerse yourself in the Web2.0 social networking scene.
A quote from the book states, “Web 2.0 tools are becoming powerful platforms for cooperation, collaboration and creativity.”

“If you are not embracing the Enterprise 2.0 model, you risk getting left behind,” says Fraser, coauthor along with Dutta of Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom: How online social networking will transform your life, work and world.

If you are a marketing manager, sales person or follower of any subject this book is a must read to better understand and prepare yourself for the “e-ruptions” that will be created by the Web2.0 social networking revolution. To learn more visit www.throwingsheep.com or purchase a copy at a bookstore, or direct from the publisher by calling 800-225-5945.

A Security Experts Guide to Web 2.0 Security

Written by Roger Thornton & Jennifer Bayuk

Web 2.0 has made the Web a livelier and friendlier place, with social Web sites, wikis, blogs, mashups and interactive services that are fun as well as useful. There are two Web 2.0 concepts that change the game for CISOs, and that they need to understand.

The first is the introduction of rich client interfaces (AJAX, Adobe/Flex) while the other is a shift to community controlled content as opposed to publisher consumer model. Both have serious security issues.

It’s all good news about Web 2.0, right?

Yes, unless you happen to be responsible for securing the Web 2.0 environment for your business or enterprise. Then, you might just lament that we’ve taken the data-rich server model of the 1970’s and grafted it onto the interface-rich client model of the 1980’s and 90’s, giving us more capabilities but also a more complex—and vulnerable—computing environment.

We have to deal with the problems traditionally encountered using interface-rich clients—viruses, Trojans, man in the middle attacks, eavesdropping, replay attacks, rogue servers and others. And all of these apply to every interface in a Web 2.0 mashup, which could have dozens of clients in one application.

In addition, the user community has changed from being simply indifferent to being willfully ignorant of the value of information. Users willingly post the most revealing details about their employers and their professional lives (not to mention their personal lives) on MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter—information that is easily available to just about anyone.

The problem is painfully obvious for the security professional: More complexity and openness creates vulnerabilities and opportunities for attack and the release of confidential information. This all results in more headaches for security professionals who have to be vigilant in order to keep their IT environments secure.

What’s a CISO to do?
Although some companies have tried all options, you can’t easily write your own browser, isolate your users from the Web, or control everything that happens on their PC desktop. However, there are steps you can take that can seriously improve your odds of winning the battle over Web 2.0 vulnerabilities.

For community controlled content:
1. Educate yourself and your company, developers, vendors and end users about Web 2.0 vulnerabilities. Institute a clearing process for the use and inventory of new Web 2.0 components before they are incorporated into your business environment.
2. Segregate users’ network access for those who need and those who don’t need access to social networking sites.
3. Establish a policy identifying inappropriate professional topics for public discussion on the Web or through online social services.
4. Create desktop policies and filters that block, as much as possible, interactions with unknown and untested software.

When deploying rich client interfaces:
5. Assign a cross-functional team to work with software development and application owners to educate themselves on the risks of incorporating Web 2.0 components into applications. Have your own developers recognize and control the use of potentially vulnerable tools such as ActiveX and JavaScript.
6. Require your vendors to meet secure coding standards.
7. Vigorously stay on top of vulnerabilities and exploits. Use your Web 2.0 inventory to establish a quick response plan to mitigate software as issues arise.