Even though more workplaces are regulating social networking sites, employees are finding ways around security roadblocks, making social networking a way of office-life around the world.

Trend Micro's 2010 corporate end user survey, which included 1600 end users in the US, UK, Germany and Japan, found that globally, social networking at the workplace steadily rose from 19 percent in 2008 to 24 percent in 2010. The highest surge of social networking on the corporate network during the last two years was found among end-users within the UK, who tallied a six percent increase, and Germany, with a more than 10 percent leap.

In 2010, 29 percent of laptop users versus 18 percent of desktop users surveyed said they frequented these sites at work. In Japan for 2010, small-company employees were much more likely than those from large companies to visit social networking sites — 21 percent from small companies compared to seven percent from large companies.

As more and more people communicate through social networks, the more viable social networks become malware distribution platforms. KOOBFACE alone, the "largest Web 2.0 botnet," controls and commands around 51,000 compromised machines globally.

"Social networking is an extremely important tool both for personal and professional-relationship building. And while most companies' concerns around social networking in the office centre around the loss of employee productivity, what they may not realise is that many social networking sites are built on interactive technologies that give cybercriminals endless opportunities to exploit end users, steal personal identities or business data, and corrupt corporate networks with malware," said David Perry, global director of education, Trend Micro.

"With the right security solutions and social networking guidelines implemented, there is no reason why companies who choose to allow their employees the option of visiting these sites should be overly exposed to these risks."