July Tech Tip

What your employees are doing with your Internet connection.

Companies are being required to provide their employees with high-speed Internet access to perform job duties given the ever increasing use of computers in today's business world. Many companies provide this access without giving thought to what they, the business owners, consider appropriate use of this bandwidth. To prevent legal problems, as well as security issues, careful thought must be given to this matter.

The first step any company must take is to draw up an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). This policy should spell out which activities are allowed and which are prohibited when using company computers and high-speed Internet services. Consequences for violating this policy should be given in detail in this document and then every employee should be required to sign the AUP.

The next step that should be taken is implementing a monitoring system to ensure that the AUP is not being violated. Having rules with no way to enforce them is the same as having no rules at all.

Why, you may ask, should I bother with this?

One company reported that one of its employees was running their own very profitable e-bay auction site with products taken from the company's inventory. Another company reported that one of its employees had downloaded over 500 songs off the Internet and used the CD burners on company computers to make illegal recordings of those songs.

Finally, a company reported that one of its employees was using instant messaging and turned off the virus protection to receive a file transfer and brought down the whole network with a virus downloaded with the file.

It is imperative that companies take steps to prevent these occurrences. There are many different software packages on the market today to accomplish this. Talk to your Information Technology Service Department or provider about which solution is best for your company.

Spectorsoft is one company that manufactures computer monitoring software. It offers several products, among them are: Spector Pro, E Blaster 5.0, and Spector Corporate Network Edition. Prices for the software start at $99.95 and increase with features and versions of software. Visit www.spectorsoft.com to find out more.

Softsecurity's product is called PC ACME and comes in two versions -- Lite and Standard. Pricing for this product starts at $149.99 and increases as functionality and features increase. This company does provide discounts on additional license purchases.

Software packages are available from many companies and each one has different features. You should consult with your I.T. consultant to determine which package works best for your company.

One main advantage to programs like the ones mentioned above is that they operate in hidden mode. That is, they operate whenever the computer is on but the person using the computer cannot find the program running and turn it off. This ensures that activities that should be monitored are. Additionally, these products are scaleable. They can be configured to monitor exactly what a business owner feels is necessary or appropriate.

Whatever approach you take with your business and the use of its high-speed Internet connection, you must make some key decisions. If you do not establish rules and then enforce them, your band-width is at risk for abuse, and your company is at risk for both legal and security issues.