The temptations of the web

With the growth of the Web, todayís employees have the world at their fingertips, but donít be fooled ñ they are not all gathering vital business information and emailing important clients. Sharon Cummins, UK sales manager for Monactive, advises that you take a closer look at what exactly your employees are up to on the Net, because all may not be as it seems.

There are few modern businesses that could survive without the Web: an indispensable source of information on any subject, the most rapid and effective form of correspondence.... Unfortunately, Internet connectivity also creates a host of temptations. According to a recent survey carried out by corporate Internet access management company SurfControl, up to 60% of employeesí Internet activity includes visits to unproductive, inappropriate and potentially dangerous sites.

So what if employees break up their day with a bit of personal surfing on the Web, you may ask. Admittedly, nobody can be expected to work consistently without an occasional break but as the Internet and all things e-related gradually take over the workplace, the problem is getting more serious. A little personal shopping on your lunch break can cause permanent damage to your employer in terms of productivity loss, bandwith loss and legal liability.

On average, non-work related surfing costs US businesses $54 billion and 30-40 per cent in productivity losses every year. According to the Gartner Group, businesses lose an estimated 26 million man-hours annually to online game playing alone. For example, one unnamed US Government Department discovered an elaborate ring of computer blackjack gamblers operating in its offices, costing the company hundreds of pounds in downtime hours and finding expensive solutions to curb the problem.

Other popular at-work surfing activities include sending emails to friends and family, visiting news groups, checking sports scores and even searching for other jobs. All of which wreak havoc on a companyís bandwith. Last year nearly two million people logged on to a 25 minute Victoriaís Secret fashion show Webcast during business hours, using a bandwith capacity equivalent to nearly 200 million T1 lines.

Recently a new and perhaps more serious problem has arisen from the Net in the form of file-sharing applications. This new form of software, which can be easily downloaded from the Internet, allows the swapping of files (audio, graphics, animation, etc.) between users, across a network.

It may seem innocent enough for employees to be sharing episodes of The Simpsons around the office, or watching the new Britney Spearsí video on their PC, but the consequences of such activity can be severe. Using file-sharing applications such as Napster, Gnutella and Freenet allows users from around the world to connect to your computer and copy the shared files, causing your machine to run slowly and the company network to be hindered. More serious, perhaps, than this, are the possible legal and security issues that come with file sharing applications.

In one case in Sunrise, Florida, employees were trading an episode of the comedy cartoon South Park using the popular file-sharing application, Napster. Fortunately in this instance, the employer was aware of the high-profile lawsuits that had been filed against Napster and he banned the software from all PCs in the company before any legal issues could arise. Other companies have not been as lucky and have been sued over the presence of unlicensed, copyrighted, song, film and animation files on their computers.

Major corporations are gradually beginning to see employee email and Internet privileges as potential security hazards, distractions and legal dangers, and many are taking action. Several companies have already restricted email and Internet access to a select few and some are considering abolishing these freedoms altogether, in an attempt to eradicate problems such as email-borne worms and viruses.

As well as the security risks involved, free email and Internet access can also land companies with damaging lawsuits. Using the speedy desktop Net connection on your office PC to download a batch of copyright-protected tunes could trigger a whole minefield of costly legal issues, which your employer is forced to deal with, despite pleading ignorance.

But how can employers put an end to this reckless use of Internet and email privileges? Banning the use of these freedoms altogether is one option, though not particularly popular with the work force. Another stance is to increase security measures, implementing elaborate content filtering software which can block all but the tamest incoming emails and attachments, or tailoring the email server to intercept incoming emails which contain a range of attachments. This is, unfortunately, only an effective solution for those companies with vast IT budgets.

An equally effective and affordable method, could be to employ a software asset management device. One such tool is Monactiveís dxPRO, which is able to monitor computer activity and build a complete picture of all software usage within an organisation.

dxPRO employs an agent on each individual desktop within an organisation, which reports back to a central console. This information is then used to build up a picture of the software in use within the office and allows an employer to click on an individual software application and find exactly who is using it and how frequently. By monitoring Internet Explorer, Monactiveís dxPRO is also able to assess how much time an individual spends on the Web and can identify any applications that have been downloaded from the Internet, allowing employers to put a stop to the use of applications that may cause security, financial or legal damage to the company.

Using a tool such as this can not only identify suspect Internet and email usage within the workplace, it can also serve as an effective deterrent to those employees who are contemplating a spot of online gaming. Martin Brokers, the oldest established money broking firm in London, recently installed dxPRO onto their network in order to control software installation from a licensing point of view. After installation, Richard McElligott, IT Manager, discovered a variety of games and other unwanted pieces of software installed on the organisation''s computers.

dxPRO allowed us to identify a number of games and undesirable bits of software on the company PCs, something which we would never have been able to do as easily previously. Now that we can use dxPRO to identify exactly what software is being used and by whom, we are in a position to delete all undesirable software and persuade staff to be more disciplined.î

So next time you gaze out onto a sea of devoted employees slaving over their computers you would be well advised to take a second look. Abuse of Internet and email privileges is a serious problem and you would be well advised to put a stop to this activity, before it puts a stop to your business.

About Monactive:
Monactive designs and delivers software asset management (SAM) tools, technologies & services.

Monactiveís flagship product, dxPRO is a fully integrated solution providing a complete picture of an organisationís desktop software usage, internally and remotely. dxPRO is fast to deploy and manage, and delivers up-to-date information via an ìintelligent agentî that builds a comprehensive library of software usage. Monactiveís monitoring technology is transparent to users and the network, so it can be used without impacting on existing performance.

Unlike traditional ëinventory toolsí, dxPRO is the first SAM tool that integrates usage, inventory and contractual information, enabling better management of licences, legal compliance and greater cost saving.
For more information visit www.monactive.com