Protecting Sensitive Data Sharing on Social Networking Sites

As organizations embrace social media for networking, marketing, and recruiting, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X (formerly Twitter) have become integral to business operations. While social networking sites offer numerous benefits for productivity, collaboration, and engagement, they also introduce significant security challenges, particularly concerning the handling and potential exposure of sensitive data. Striking the right balance between enabling access to these platforms and ensuring the protection of critical business information has become a major concern for enterprises.

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Data leakage on social networking sites

Organizations should view social networking sites as high-risk environments for data leakage. 

Social media encourages real-time sharing, which can lead to the accidental oversharing of sensitive business information. Users may inadvertently share sensitive corporate information through posts, comments, or file uploads, exposing businesses to compliance violations, intellectual property theft, or leaked customer or employee data. For example, an employee may post confidential details about a new project or share internal documents through a personal message, exposing the organization to a data breach. 

Social media platforms are also prime targets for phishing and social engineering attacks. Cybercriminals often impersonate trusted contacts or brands to trick employees into disclosing sensitive information. These attacks are difficult to detect because they exploit the trusted nature of social networks. 

In response to increased security risk, many organizations opt to block access to these platforms entirely. However, this approach is increasingly unsustainable in a digital-first world where social media is intertwined with business operations. While denying access to social networking sites may also cut down on employee distractions, for users in departments like HR, sales, and marketing, blocking these sites can also put a stop to productivity. 

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How secure web gateways reduce the risk of data loss on the web

A cloud-based next-generation secure web gateway (SWG) like Lookout Secure Internet Access delivers powerful, flexible protection for online users. Unlike traditional SWG solutions that simply protect users from accessing malicious sites and content within the corporate perimeter, cloud-based SWGs provide comprehensive protection for users by securing web traffic regardless of location, making it ideal for today’s distributed and remote workforce. Lookout Secure Internet Access also provides more robust capabilities that include zero-day threat protection, shadow IT monitoring, and data loss prevention.

Lookout Secure Internet Access safeguards against data leakage online by:

Protecting data sharing through advanced DLP controls

Lookout provides powerful data loss prevention (DLP) capabilities to both structured and unstructured data, detecting sensitive information within posts, comments, and other content on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X. This includes both text-based content and data within files. When sensitive data is identified, Lookout can prevent the upload, download, or sharing of these files within the social platform. When a violation is detected, the action is blocked, and the user is redirected to a notification page that explains why their posting has been denied and includes details on the policy violation. This comprehensive protection ensures that organizations can confidently enable social media access while preventing accidental or malicious data leaks.

Providing full visibility into online user activity

Without insight into who is posting what, from where, and when, security teams are left in the dark, unable to detect potentially harmful activities. With Lookout, organizations get full visibility into all user interactions on social media platforms. This includes tracking posts, comments, and file uploads and downloads, as well as identifying users accessing corporate data. With these capabilities, organizations can monitor for suspicious behavior, enforce security policies in real time, and gain insights into user trends on social platforms.

Lookout Secure Internet Access’s DLP controls don’t just apply to social networking sites, but can also protect sensitive data from being leaked on genAI sites like ChatGPT and Google Gemini.

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Get full protection with a unified platform

Secure web gateways are a must-have for digital enterprises, helping to keep users and data safe online. As organizations look to consolidate security tools, SWGs are now included in security service edge (SSE) platforms that integrate policies and extend threat protection and DLP across web, cloud, SaaS, and private apps.

For an in-depth look into Lookout Secure Internet Access or the fully integrated Lookout SSE platform, attend a virtual Lookout Cloud Security Hands-on Lab. Reserve your seat today.