Increased complexities such as the use of social media and smartphones by employees are keeping network and systems administrators at enterprises busy — although more than half feel sufficiently budgeted and/or staffed to support current information security needs, according to a survey commissioned by VanDyke Software®.

The findings from the 8th annual “What Keeps Network Administrators Up At Night” survey shows that 42 percent of the respondents said they were “moderately concerned” to “extremely concerned” about the security threat associated with employee use of social media. According to the survey, when network and systems administrators were asked to explain in their own words what concerns them most about employee use of social media at their organization, the most common themes were:

• Viruses - 19%
• Data / information leaks - 19%
• Intrusion risk - 19%
• Users not being careful - 9%
• Trojan horses / other malware - 9%
• Concerns about risks to privacy / user information - 6%

In addition to concerns related to security, 21 percent complained about employees wasting time on social media instead of being productive at work; 36 percent reported that their organization allows employees unlimited access to social media when using the company network; and 48 percent reported allowing limited access to social media via the company network.