Web 2.0 World

It’s a Web 2.0 World

Just a few years ago, the Internet was primarily used for one-way interaction. Anyone with Internet access could go online and get information, products, or services they needed. Fast forward to 2007, and many Web users are now enjoying activities such as tagging, blogging, and podcasting. This more collaborative, two-way Internet phenomenon is often referred to as “Web 2.0.” Web 2.0 doesn’t comprise any one technology or solution, but rather it relies on user-generated content and collaboration. The possibilities of Web 2.0 applications seem limitless — but before your business charts new Web territory, be aware of the risks involved.

The Web 2.0 phenomenon
In recognition of the effect that the collaborative Web 2.0 environment has had on our daily lives and our culture in general, Time Magazine named their 2006 Person of the Year simply “You.” The editors of Time said they based their decision on observations they made about 2006:

“It’s a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It’s about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people’s network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. It’s about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes.

The tool that makes this possible is the World Wide Web. Not the Web that Tim Berners-Lee hacked together (15 years ago, according to Wikipedia) as a way for scientists to share research. It’s not even the overhyped dotcom Web of the late 1990s. The new Web is a very different thing. It’s a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter. Silicon Valley consultants call it Web 2.0, as if it were a new version of some old software. But it’s really a revolution.

“Web 2.0 in action
MySpace, YouTube, and Wikipedia are just three of the many popular online destinations that allow visitors to make their mark on the Web. While a lot of Web 2.0 is about making social connections, this collaborative, connected environment also has the potential to benefit businesses in a number of ways. Here are some examples:

Writeboard — Writeboards are sharable, Web-based text documents that let you save every edit, go back to any version, and compare changes. This is ideal for business documents that have multiple reviewers, as it can track all changes and versions and can be accessed from any location via a Web browser.

Skype — According to telecom analyst Albert Lin at American Technology Research, one million people worldwide, 300,000 of them in the United States, will rely on Skype as their primary means of business communication in 2007. Skype is a peer-to-peer Voice over IP network that includes, among other things, free voice and video conferencing.

Basecamp — Basecamp is a project management Web application that is tailored to improve the communication between people working together on a project. It can be client-facing and can act as a hub for all project-related activities.

Blogs — In addition to the plethora of personal blogs on the Web, a number of businesses and corporations are getting into the blogging act, posting blogs to their company’s Websites. GM’s FastLane Blog, Microsoft’s Xbox Live blog, and even Symantec’s own Security Response Weblog are examples of business blogs.

Security considerations
Unfortunately, the technology behind Web 2.0 is not immune to security threats. Attackers will often take advantage of the implied trust between the community of individual developers and the sites hosting content to compromise individual users and/or Web sites. Also, various Web 2.0 platforms such as blogs can host exploits and become distribution points for links to fraudulent Web sites, malicious code, and other security threats, such as spyware. It’s not just Web platforms that users should be concerned about, however. According to the most recent Symantec Internet Security Threat Report, Volume X:

“Web 2.0 technologies rely heavily upon Web services. Web services are services that are designed to support interoperability between hosts over a network. Symantec has already observed one worm that used the Google Search Web service. This attack provided evidence that well-known services are not immune to these sorts of attacks and that the number of users these services have present an attractive opportunity to maximize attackers’ efforts.”

In the same Threat Report, Symantec researchers state their concern that, in the rush to develop Web services, the underlying Web applications that use them are not receiving the same level of security auditing as traditional client-based applications and services.

Conclusion
Web 2.0 is a merging of technologies, people, and attitude that has created an important shift in the way we think about and use the Internet. There are many ways that Web 2.0 can be used to benefit businesses by saving them time and money, and offering a new mode of interaction with customers. However, Web 2.0 takes advantage of many emerging technologies that could leave your business vulnerable, so enjoy the benefits Web 2.0 has to offer, but make sure to do it with security in mind.

from Symantec