Trust in me

You can definitely tell it is InfoSec week.

My inbox is groaning from the sheer level of security-based press releases flooding into it.

But I had to comment/pick on on this particular one from security vendor Faronics.

Apparently 71 per cent of those questioned are worred about the amount of personal information held online, but despite this, a 'significant proportion' would still share confidential information with people they didn't know.  Really? Do they need their heads examined?

Also almost a third of those (32 per cent), said they would send a password, bank account number or their mother's maiden name via email or a social networking website. That is truly worrying. Was the poll conducted with a bunch of pre-teens or professional business people?  (Apprentice candidates aside)

LinkedIn was seen as a particularly trustworthy site, with 33 per cent of respondents admitting they have accepted connection requests from people they don't know. Well that isn't difficult to be honest - I don't personally know all my LinkedIn connections.

Also just 20 per cent of those on LinkedIn control who can view the information on their profiles, compared with 46 per cent on Facebook.

Could this possibly be because most people (teenagers and people desperate for friends excepted) use Facebook as a personal tool that only their true friends are part of, and LinkedIn is a less personal business tool?

Quite often you want total strangers to contact you on LinkedIn, either offering you a job or a connection to a place that might have taken years to infiltrate. It is called contact building where I come from.

But Faronics believes that people feel LinkedIn is safer because it hasn't received the same amount of publicity over its security as Facebook has.

Despite this belief, sharing any kind of personal/sensitive information over either these mediums leaves me wondering how some people are able to safely get themselves to work and back every day.

But don't worry, because luckily Faronics is on hand to 'secure multi-user PC environments' and ensure these mistakes are avoided.

Sleep easy readers!