Should you monitor your employees' online activity?
In the past 5 years, access to the Internet at the office went from rare to ubiquitous. Businesses
now rely on the internet for immediate & efficient access to information, resources and
communications. Business owners and managers are now faced with many challenges when
it comes to managing the risks to in-house networks and data.
Whether your employees are inadvertently or deliberately accessing sites that are inappropriate,
illegal or dangerous, businesses suffer losses of productivity, risk exposing themselves
to legal liabilities as well as spyware and virus infections. The latest threat comes
from a new virus using instant messaging and peer-to-peer networks to get users to download
and view JPEG images infected with malware.The startling statistics:
- 30 - 40% of Internet use in the workplace isn't related to business.
- 70% of all Web traffic occurs during work hours.
- 70% of employees admit to viewing/sending
adult-oriented
e-mail at work.
- 16% have knowingly surfed porn sites while at work
What are your employees doing online during that 30-40% of their time? They are viewing:
news, travel, personal email, personal banking, shopping, auctions and sports sites. In
addition to surfing the internet, they are Instant Messaging, downloading software and music,
exchanging files, toolbars and gadgets, and visiting social sites and blogs.
The Recording Industry Association of America collected a $1 million fine from an organization
found to have copyrighted music on its corporate network, downloaded by its employees. And
in another high-profile case, Chevron Corporation in 1995 was ordered to pay female employees
$2.2 million to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit stemming from inappropriate jokes e-mailed
internally by male employees.
What can you do to protect your business?
- Develop an Internet Usage Policy for your employees.
Establish a comprehensive, clear written policy on what is acceptable usage for the Internet
and email. Make sure this policy is easy for employees to read and access. Update your
policy regularly to keep up with emerging technologies, like blogs and Instant Messaging.
- Internet Usage Policy Sample
- Educate your employees.
You can't afford to assume your employees understand email and
Internet risks. Provide
mandatory training for all employees.
- Monitor and enforce your policy.
Implement a hardware or software solution to monitor and
control your employees' access to the Internet. Monitor your employees' activity and
revise limitations if necessary. Enforce
any breaches of your Acceptable Usage Policy.
Secure content management solutions employ two approaches:
Site Blocking and Content Monitoring.
Site Blocking
The site blocking approach for content management uses a device that maintains a list of
URL's (web addresses) to identify and block websites. Solutions either rely on 'white
lists', allowing access to those sites that are on the list, or a 'black list', which allows
access to all sites except those on the black list. The black list approach is preferable
for businesses whose employees need less restrictive Internet access. With the black
list approach, URL's are organized into categories such as "violence" and "gambling" enabling
the administrator to selectively block categories. Most site blocking solutions update
their database on a daily basis and your device would download the updates automatically.
The limitation to this approach is that it does not block Instant Messaging, email attachments,
or P2P applications.
Content Monitoring
The basis for this approach is keyword blocking. It compares the data a user enters
against a database of words and phrases. When a match is found, the data is blocked. The
problem with this approach is that it can inadvertently block legitimate pages when they
contain one or more keywords. For example, a page about cancer research might be blocked
because it contains the word "breast".
More advanced solutions not only examine the individual words, but also the context of the
page, as well as the contents of chats, Instant Messaging, email attachments and applications. These
solutions allow you to create policies for individual users or groups....as well as provide
real-time antivirus and anti-spyware intrusions.
Most content filtering/monitoring solutions provide powerful reporting; allowing you to
see how much time is spent on the Internet, what sites are being visited, and by which users.
Please contact our office if you're interested in implementing a content filtering solution
in your business. 860.345.7440
Under Connecticut
law (Sec. 31-48d), employers who intend to electronically monitor employees
must communicate their intention by prior written notice to employees. Proper notification
includes posting a notice in a conspicuous place.
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