Peer to Peer Software

The dangers of P2P file-sharing have been publicized repeatedly since Napster first made headlines. While many corporate networks have taken a strong position on P2P technologies and put in place policies and technical controls to block them entirely, there are still a large number of business networks where P2P users are allowed to run amok. 

There are three reasons to ban P2P software from your network:

1. The negative impact to bandwidth.
   A P2P network does not use a central server, it uses the computers of its users. Therefore, if a computer on your network is sharing files on a P2P network, then it is using the companies network to provide resources to the P2P network, including bandwidth, storage space, and computing power!
   
   
2. The legal liability of allowing your users to share
   copyrighted material.
   
   If your employees are using P2P network to share copyrighted music or videos, you could be held liable for copyright infringement!
   
   
3. The potential exposure of sensitive corporate information

Pfizer’s legal counsel reports that an employee brought their company laptop home, where the individual’s spouse installed a P2P application and proceeded to inadvertently share the computer’s contents. This action of one individual caused over up to 16,950 past and present Pfizer employee’s sensitive personal information to be shared on an P2P network. The software allowed outsiders access to a number of files that include the names and social security numbers of Pfizer employees. 17,000 employees had their identities compromised by one employee using P2P software.