Safeguard Your Business and Your Employees

Monitoring Employee Internet Usage

Challenge

Social networking. Streaming video. Online gaming. Instant messaging. These distractions reside just a few keystrokes away from employees in every industry. And statistics show that employees give in to temptation, spending an average of one to three hours per day engaging in non-work-related Internet activities.

Risks from inappropriate employee Internet usage cost organizations money and time and expose them to a myriad of vulnerabilities, including:

• Data security breaches
• Excessive bandwidth consumption
• Legal liability
• Regulatory compliance violations

Open to public scrutiny, government and education organizations face additional challenges. Taxpayers want to know their dollars fund productive workers and that private information is safeguarded from leaks. This has prompted an increase in employee Internet usage monitoring throughout state, local and federal agencies.

Cover All Your Bases
Typically, organizations monitor employee Internet usage by filtering Web-based activity. Simple, right? Well, not necessarily. Monitoring employee Internet usage has become significantly more complex with the proliferation of non-browser applications such as instant messaging, peer-to-peer sites, streaming media applications, online gaming and remote access applications.

Most businesses implement an Internet Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) to clearly define appropriate Web behaviors and notify employees of the consequences of violating employee Internet usage guidelines. However, these AUPs are only effective if the organization is proactive in enforcing its policies.

Solution

Educate Employees

Organizations should begin by updating their AUPs, ensuring their policies are relevant to evolving technologies. Moreover, these businesses need to communicate these policies to their employees, explaining the dangers and consequences of engaging in inappropriate employee Internet usage.

By specifying what constitutes inappropriate or unsafe content, employers help their workers understand what's at risk.

Enforce Employee Internet Usage Policies
An AUP is only as effective as its enforcement. The most efficient method for monitoring employee Internet usage is implementation of a complete web filtering solution that includes:

• URL/IP address and file type filtering
• Internet threat blocking
• Instant messaging and peer-to-peer blocking
• Workstation lockdown capabilities
• Proxy pattern blocking
• SafeSearch enforcement

8e6 Technologies provides 8e6 Professional Edition, a comprehensive Web filtering solution that delivers unmatched network compatibility and performance with the R3000 Internet Filter.

Related links:

Employee Misuse and Abuse of Corporate Computer Assets Creates HR Nightmares
(ePolicy Institute)

2007 Electronic Monitoring and Surveillance Survey (American Management Association)