Personal Internet use at work impacting corporate security, liability

May 23, 2006 3:31 PM

           

The rapid growth of online video and other Internet broadcasts is clogging the network bandwidth of companies all over the world. That's one reason why workplace Internet restrictions are getting tougher among many companies.

According to a Chicago Tribune report, other concerns include guarding against legal threats such as sexual harassment, and preventing malicious software from disabling a corporate network. Not to mention, lost company work time stemming from increased personal Internet use.

Some companies in Chicago have restricted Internet use, the newspaper reports; however, other organizations seem to be taking it to an extreme level.

At an Illinois hospital, Internet access for nurses and other staff is severely restricted by the director of information services, Mike Ward. Only a few employees can even use the hospital's e-mail system to send a personal note, and they cannot use Internet-based e-mail systems, such as Hotmail.

For workers who find themselves unplugged, the experience is very "Big Brother-ish," said an administrator for a large health-care organization in suburban Detroit that instituted a strict policy last year. "It can be a big barrier if you are trying to research a topic or even order supplies," the worker told the newspaper.

To access the Internet, an employee needs to fill out a form stating the business case and have it approved by a manager before the IT department will grant access.

According to a survey conducted in 2005 by the ePolicy Institute and the American Management Association, 26 percent of employers have fired workers for misusing the Internet. A total of 526 companies responded to the survey.

It also found that 65 percent of companies use software to limit or block Internet access, a 27 percent increase since the survey was last conducted in 2001. "I'm surprised it's not 100 percent," said Nancy Flynn, executive director of ePolicy, a consulting firm that works with companies to reduce Internet risks.

"I don't think it's extreme to enforce that an employee's computer use is for the company, not personal business." The biggest reason why, Flynn said, is legal liability.

"The courts make no distinction between electronic messages and paper messages," she added. "If your organization is involved in a lawsuit, you can take it to the bank that your employees' e-mail messages will be subpoenaed and their history of Internet surfing could be looked at, too."

She added that inappropriate Web surfing, such as a worker who visits a pornographic site and positions the computer screen so other workers see the images, could trigger a sexual harassment suit. Another survey found that 16 percent of men who access the Web from work had visited a porn site, while only 8 percent of women had done so.

Furthermore, that survey found that men spent an average of 2.3 hours per week at non-work-related Web sites, while women said they spent 1.5 hours each week at such sites, according to Internet security firm Websense Inc. The results are from 500 workers who have work access to the Internet at companies with at least 100 employees.

The State of Illinois is one employer controlling where workers can go online. "We certainly block access to sites that are inappropriate," said Tony Daniels, deputy director of the bureau of computing and communication services, the state's top IT professional.

That ban includes such popular places as America Online and any access to streaming video. Daniels added the policy can be altered based on a department's business needs, but no longer do state employees get blanket access to the Web.

Over the past year, sales of hardware and software products to restrict Web access have been increasing, said Vimal Solanki of McAfee Inc. "Videos, MP3 files and other such content is choking up Internet resources and not allowing the networks to work well."

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