Study: 63% of companies fear Facebook, Twitter affects corporate security

As more and more spend time on social sites like Facebook and Twitter, a new study shows that 63 percent of system administrators are concerned that employees will put their company's IT infrastructure at risk by sharing too much personal data.

The new poll by the anti-virus firm Sophos, also showed that many businesses are still concerned about lost productivity when it comes to using social networks in the workplace, but a lot of these businesses now also worry about cybercrime in relation to these networks.

A quarter of these businesses also reports that they have been the victim of spam, phishing, and malware attacks via sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace.

According to Sophos, many businesses are still worried about loss in productivity when employees use social networks in the workplace, but a lot of these businesses now also worry about cybercrime in relation to these networks.

Around 40 to 50 percent of all businesses don't control access to Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, while a slightly larger group of enterprises allow their users to use the more business-oriented LinkedIn.

Those who control access cite lost productivity as the main reason more clamping down on social network usage at work, while about 12 to 17 percent cite a fear of malware and data leakage, according to Sophos.