Web 2.0 confuses Australian professionals: survey

More than half of Australian IT professionals are confused about what constitutes Web 2.0, the results of a survey have found.

Commissioned by security vendor Websense, research firm Dynamic Markets reported that 54 percent of Australian respondents thought email services such as Hotmail, Yahoo & Gmail constitute Web 2.0 while 48 percent said Wikis and 30 percent said sites that enable users to upload photographs are Web 2.0.

A further 44 percent said Web 2.0 are internet portals such as iGoogle; 44 percent social networks primarily used for business use e.g. LinkedIn and 43 percent said auction sites.

The survey also found that employees want more use of Web 2.0 in the workplace, and this is leaving IT departments to find the right balance between preventing security risks while still allowing safe and flexible access.

Additionally, pressure for more Web 2.0 access is coming from top-level executives.

53 percent of the 100 IT managers surveyed admitted that their users try to bypass their company's security policies.

According to Websense, findings from the survey demonstrate that IT professionals are struggling to strike a balance between taking advantage of the benefits of Web 2.0 while mitigating the security risks.

"We've heard from many organisations that want guidance on establishing Web 2.0 usage policies and help determining the right Web 2.0 security solutions," said Phil Vasic, ANZ country manager, Websense.

Websense has since launched Facebook page as an interactive community for IT professionals to discuss the benefits and risks associated with Web 2.0.

Websense conducted 1,300 interviews with IT managers in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, the UK and the US. One hundred interviews were collected in all countries.