In December 2011, a report on application usage in enterprise networks across Germany, Switzerland, and Austria revealed that organizations average 19 social networking applications, primarily dominated by Facebook and Twitter. Additionally, 48 browser-based filesharing applications were found, with a significant portion of bandwidth consumed by applications not utilizing TCP port 80, emphasizing the need for broader security considerations. The findings indicate common business and security risks related to both social networking and filesharing applications.

1. Five Facts About Application
Usage on Enterprise Networks
in DACH
(Germany, Switzerland, Austria)
Application Usage and Risk Report
December 2011

3. Average number of social networking
applications per organization?
A total of 62 different social networking applications were
found in 97% of the 62 participating organizations with an
average of 19 found on each network.

5. Which application is used more heavily?
Based on the percentage of social networking bandwidth
consumed , Vkontakte consumed 5% while Studivz and
Meinvz consumed 3% each. Facebook and Twitter consume
the most bandwidth at 39% and 24% respectively.

6. Facebook dominates. Local applications are found
frequently. Active social networking application (games,
posting, plugins, apps) usage is inline with the global usage
patterns.

8. Average number of browser-based
filesharing applications per organization?
A total of 48 different browser-based filesharing
applications were found in 90% of the 62 participating
organizations with an average of 13 in each.

9. Browser-based filesharing use cases: work or
entertainment. Both uses have a common set of business
and security risks that organizations must address.

11. The number of applications
using Port 80 (tcp/80) only?
The number of applications that ONLY use Port 80 is 217 or
26% of the 833 applications found in the participating
organizations.

13. Percentage of total bandwidth consumed
by applications not using tcp/80?
65% of the total bandwidth is being consumed by 250 (30%
of 973) applications that DO NOT USE port 80 at all. Ever.

14. Port 80 only security is shortsighted. The common
perception is that Port 80 (tcp/80) is where all the traffic and all
the problems are. A port 80 emphasis is an absolute
requirement; but too much focus is shortsighted.

16. Palo Alto Networks Application Usage
and Risk Report
www.paloaltonetworks.com/aur