Businesses block 50% of workers from Facebook

Boston (MA) – Businesses are tightening the reins on employees accessing social networking sites like Facebook, according to a new survey done by computer security firm Sophos. According to the survey, half of the employees polled said they were blocked from accessing Facebook which is second most popular social networking site behind MySpace.

Sophos questioned 600 people in July and August. Interestingly enough, 8% of workers that could access Facebook said their employers were afraid to block the site because of a possible employee revolt. Two-thirds of all those polled said they worry about their fellow employees putting too much personal information on their Facebook pages.

Last week, Sophos published another study that said 41% of workers were willing to divulge email addresses, date of birth and phone numbers to a complete stranger. Sophos conveniently sells its WS1000 Web Security and Control appliance that can block social networking sites. The WS1000 filters out offending websites and can also protect against spyware, viruses, phishing and malware attacks.