Oxley Security Risks in Social Media Technologies

Safe Practices in Public Service Applications
1. Auflage 2013
ISBN: 978-1-78063-380-0
Verlag: Elsevier Science & Techn.
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 292 Seiten

Reihe: Chandos Publishing Social Media Series

Security measures can be used by management, IT staff, and users in participatory/collaborative service provision within the public sector. Security Risks in Social Media Technologies explores this use. Topics are targeted, and issues raised and lessons learnt are analyzed. The book helps the reader understand the risks posed by relevant Web 2.0 applications and gives clear guidance on how to mitigate those risks. The body of the book is concerned with social media, the dominant Web 2.0 technology associated with security in the public sector, and is structured into eight chapters. The first chapter introduces the background for the work; the second covers uses of social media; the third covers relevant security threats; the fourth chapter concerns the security controls applied to the participation-collaboration pattern; the fifth chapter then considers acceptable use practices; the sixth chapter covers participation-collaboration in the context of schools; the seventh chapter shows an alternative way of classifying controls to that given in the fourth chapter; and the final chapter offers a conclusion. - Focuses on the security issues of social media, specifically in the public sector - Written by a leading researcher and practitioner - Shows best practices for mitigating risk in the use of social media

Alan Oxley is Professor of Computer and Information Sciences at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS in Malaysia. Alan is an all-rounder in Computer Science and has written numerous academic articles and chapters. Recently he was awarded a research stipend by the IBM Center for the Business of Government. The research led to the publication of the report entitled A Best Practices Guide for Mitigating Risk in the Use of Social Media. A considerably more expansive exposition of the topic is presented in this book.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Oxley, Alan

Leseproben

2 Non-frivolous uses of social media in the public sector
Abstract:
This chapter summarizes the potential of Web 2.0, which can be used to benefit business processes. Commerce can be facilitated by using Web 2.0, and it has allowed individuals and small groups to make a commercial success. Web 2.0 builds on organizations’ existing use of online services. This chapter focuses on the public service, giving example applications. One of them is the use of Web 2.0 for the collaborative production of government services. Another is the use of online petitions signed by citizens and directed at government. Interspersed with the descriptions of possible applications are ideas for future research. In addition to creating applications, it is also possible to use Web 2.0 as a vehicle for eliciting ideas. Such an approach has been taken with Emergency 2.0, whereby ideas related to the use of social media for communications between emergency workers are discussed. Finally, a wiki that could be used for international aid efforts is proposed. Key words potential of social media example applications usage in emergencies Twitter discovering applications The potential of Web 2.0
Chesbrough (2006) writes about a change in paradigms in the business domain from closed innovation to open innovation. In closed innovation, businesses control any innovation that is made. The company comes up with its own ideas and develops them. With open innovation, companies make use of ideas that come from inside as well as outside the firm. The advent of Web 2.0 has helped outsiders to participate in this process. There are other ways of using Web 2.0, too, such as in the distribution of music. An independent artist can build a fan base before approaching a recording company. In 2006 the band AFI, which was not independent, broke MySpace Music’s record for the number of daily downloads, when more than 500,000 downloads were made in one day. A song can be created online by collaboration, as shown in Figure 2.1. MySpace.com has brought social networking to the music scene. Figure 2.1 Processes involved in creating and selling a song Another potential for Web 2.0 is that a company could produce online user manuals for its web applications and provide an accompanying website (not necessarily a wiki) that allows users to give feedback on relevant topics. A business-to-consumer (B2C) example is JetBlue Airways, which monitors Twitter in an attempt to improve its customer service. Business social networking with customers increases their loyalty, and monitoring messages can also help businesses assess what others are saying about their competitors. There are also business-to-business (B2B) examples. For instance, given the popularity of YouTube, a B2B company should think about publishing its own video on the site. “Social commerce” is a type of “electronic commerce” in which social media is used to buy and sell products and services. It is difficult to see how Twitter could be used to increase sales directly. Companies use email to market their products and services, allowing customers to opt in and opt out of their email marketing. An opt-in policy is one where customers are not sent email by default. If they wish to be sent emails they have to tick a box on a form. An opt-out policy is one where customers are sent emails by default. If they do not wish to be sent emails then they must contact the company. Social media is an untapped area of marketing. How can companies carry out their marketing, increase brand recognition, connect with prospective customers, and explore new advertising channels using social media? The equivalent of opting in for social networking is “follow” on Twitter or becoming a fan of something on Facebook. What is the equivalent of an “opt out” (or unsubscribe)? Companies need to avoid sending spam, and try to send relevant messages to their customers. Having a good online presence helps businesses cope with recession, and businesses that maximize their online presence are more likely to thrive. Many businesses say that an economic downturn has a positive effect on the way they operate. Small and medium enterprises can use online interaction to compete with big businesses, and there is a trend for them to use social media. BT Tradespace is an online community of businesses and customers in the UK run by the telecoms company BT. An example small business using BT Tradespace is Mimimyne (http://www.mimimyne.com/), run by Tabitha Potts. The company was a winner in the 2011 Small Business Sunday #SBS competition run by Theo Paphitis. BT Tradespace allows a company to upload content such as news (which acts like a blog) and videos. A report by Visible Measures Corp. (2012) shows a huge rise in the use of social videos from 2009 to 2011; they can be used as social media for marketing. Nike has a social networking site called “Nike+” (http://nikeplus.nike.com/plus/); its theme is running. Businesses sometimes incorporate forums into their websites, e.g. Similac (https://similac.com/) and the OPEN Forum of American Express (http://www.openforum.com/). A company could conduct research into an individual whom it is considering hiring by studying the information about that person available online. Gartner (2012) has conducted a global survey of chief information officers in the private and public sectors for several years, asking them to select their top three technologies, and then ranking the results. These are the first 11 technologies chief information officers rated in 2012, ordered from highest rank to lowest: 1. analytics and business intelligence 2. mobile technologies 3. cloud computing – software as a service (SaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), and platform as a service (PaaS) 4. collaboration technologies (workflow) 5. virtualization 6. legacy modernization 7. IT management 8. customer relationship management 9. ERP applications 10. security 11. social media and Web 2.0. The first thing that managers of public sector departments need to do when online is ensure they are noticed. This can be done by using search engine optimization – improving the quality and quantity of hits on a website without paying the search engine operator. Nowadays, searching using Google does not just result in a list of web pages; searches produce photos, videos, blogs, and so on. Web 2.0 tools are being used increasingly and business managers should think about how staff should use them. Departments are becoming aware of the importance of social networking, and the value of social media in promoting them. The web and social activity are integral to future public sector activity. The participatory nature of Web 2.0 gives us the facilities to redefine government structures, public services, and democratic processes. O’Reilly (2010) writes of how the advent of Web 2.0 allows government to be a platform on which those inside and outside government can create innovative offerings. The public sector must figure out how all of this affects them. What activities can they allow employees, customers, and suppliers to control? The web is putting the general public in charge. At one extreme we have representative democracy and at the other direct democracy, where the public has no elected representatives in government. (Whether we ever want to have direct democracy is another question as, for one, it would necessitate a total overhaul of governmental mechanisms.) Web 2.0 allows us to move representative democracy that bit closer to direct democracy. With Web 2.0, elected representatives can more easily monitor public opinion and are therefore more influenced by it. These are some of the ways in which citizens can engage in e-participation:  by visiting the website of a political party  by searching for a government document online  by participating in an online poll on political issues  by sending an email to a politician or a party  by signing an e-petition or letter of support  by participating in an online debate on political issues. The potential of social media
As social media platforms are increasingly influencing how we behave, there have been an increased number of studies into ways of exploiting social media for non-frivolous purposes, in a variety of application areas in the private and public sectors. The web-based microblogging service Twitter is a pertinent example of a social media platform whose usage has spread beyond casual social networking. Security Risks in Social Media Technologies gives advice on the security issues relating to the use of social media in public service applications. Social media usage has the potential of enabling citizens to be more participatory in...