PALO ALTO, Calif. – Addison Avenue FCU said it is using an online security system provided by Websense to protect its systems from malware, viruses, spam and other threats that may be picked up from social media sites.
“We currently allow access to the social Web at Addison Avenue in a limited capacity; our marketing and e-commerce groups see dynamic social networking sites as a critical business function,” said Phil Romero, senior security architect for the credit union.
“The Websense gateway is the type of key component that gives us that visibility as to whether the activity being done is productive or a hindrance,” Romero said. “My biggest security concern, being a financial institution, is the loss of data. Websense is key to making sure that the information that needs to stay within the organization stays within the organization and doesn’t get out there by accident or exploit.”
Websense research found that nearly 40% of Facebook status updates have links and 10% of those links contain either spam or malware. But the company said there are steps IT can take today to safely embrace social media.
Websense is based in San Diego.