OK, so we know that social networking sites have their issues and threats associated with them, we’ll be the first to admit it. But on the same note, we also know that just blocking/censoring them (pick the more politically correct term) is not working either. This is in light of the Maryland general assembly’s decision to block Facebook and MySpace from their computers.

It’s a lose-lose situation. You lose the added value of using social networking to leverage business, you lose the “popular” vote when your employees expect access to such sites, and you lose on the security front as simply blocking certain sites is not effective.

The solution as we see it here is to enable access to social networking sites, while stripping out any malicious content that may end up there, and control what functionality is permitted while browsing social networking sites (see our announcement on Web2.0 application control here).

With the advent of Web 2.0 sites and the growing need to allow them in the corporate network, businesses are finding it hard to cope with the openness these sites bring, both on the content being passed back and forth, as well as from the security risks these bring in the form of unscrutinized data that can turn malicious when rendered at the corporate browser.

With the latest update to eSafe, businesses now have the capability to not just block or allow social networking sites, but actually control what can be performed when browsing these sites. The requirement to allow social networking sites is both an HR one as well as a business one as social networks are a way to empower certain business processes and enhance them. With the release of the latest Applifilter™ update, eSafe customers now have the capability to restrict specific functionality on popular social networks, thus maintaining a level of control that would allow them to utilize the sites properly and without the risk of data leakage or misuse.