Top 3 Blocked Cloud Apps in Business Today

accessToday’s professionals are traveling the globe with devices that are stocked with apps. If these devices connect to a corporate network, they pose a security danger, especially if users are freely surfing the web and downloading software to them. To safeguard networks, businesses regularly block apps from being accessed on connected devices, granting exceptions only when an app is necessary to do a user’s job. Here are three of the top blocked cloud apps in business today, along with details about the dangers they might be posing to your network.

Dropbox

Dropbox has long been the subject of warnings to security administrators, with multiple vulnerabilities having been identified over the years. The company works hard to identify and patch issues as they are identified, but many businesses have found the app too risky to allow on corporate networks.

Facebook

While all social networks pose an element of risk to businesses, Facebook has been identified as the biggest risk. Numerous scams have been identified through the site, including cross-site scripting, clickjacking, and survey scams. Cross-site scripting is particularly dangerous, since it can result in malware being installed on a user’s device.

Netflix

As consumers gravitate toward online streaming for watching TV shows, Netflix is becoming more of a problem, with day-long streaming sessions eating away at crucial bandwidth. Since many businesses now rely on that bandwidth for everything from participating in webinars to placing phone calls, Netflix’s popularity is forcing security administrators to add Netflix to its list of blocked sites and apps.

Users may feel as though they’re being hampered by having apps blocked at work. In reality, however, when a user shares space with many others, it’s important to have someone administering things to ensure things continue to go smoothly. These three cloud apps should be toward the top of every business’s list of apps to watch.