Big Brother Watching

Do you surf the Net on your companys server? Or have they got some mysetrious software installed in your PC? Your playboy days are numbered, friend. Almost certainly, your bosses dislike your surfing proclivities.

Not that they have any reason not to. They like you a bit self-conscious, yes, but apart from that, you could be a major problem for the IS guys and management.

Security is the first reason if you ask the IS. Any employee can download software. Often, such shareware is time-limited, and may invite legal action if you exceed the time-limit. Potential virus-infections too can get the IS all worked up about your netizenship.

 

Productivity is another. With internet, its easy to look busy and hard-working while you chat up Cinderella from Cyberia on #irc.cybersex. Many organisations believe their employees waste working hours aimlessly wandering cyberspace. Also, they turn a bleak eye on anyone job-hunting using the company account.

Politics, of course, is the last reason. Downloaded pornographic stuff on the network can easily get the CIO behind bars. Or at least in the courtroom. Even using copyrighted material from the Net could cost your company dearly.

If you think that is taking things too far, just take a look at this roll-call of top companies around the world: Lockheed Martin Corp., Time Warner Cables and Bell Mobility Inc. They find such internet monitoring and filtering utilities very handy to keep their employees from wasting time on the Web. Enhancing employee output and safeguarding internal information are the main reasons why AVL Scientific Corp., a developer of blood analyzers, developed a solution which has worked for them.

Network bandwidth and a simple desire to keep things maintainable are other reasons why the IS may object to your surfing habits. Twenty users downloading video files or huge game software can make a company network crawl. In some cases, systems administrators just block out such material. Todd Beche, network administrator at Gallup organizations says, We dont want ActiveX and Java stuff. They are pretty new and anything can happen. We tend to filter that off at the firewall level. Though the research companys 1000 users have full access to Internet, Beche says his department monitors the network records on a daily basis to

make sure no one is abusing his internet access.

There are enough tools to control and monitor employees surfing. Internet Access Managers (IAM) manage and sometimes block off or curtail the access of individuals and groups to the internet within a certain, specific environment. They first appeared in the international market in the summer of 1995, but it is only now that the concept is catching on.

IAM software may be categorised into two groups depending on the level in the network at which they may be installed.

Some packages are set up at the proxy server level from where they can monitor and block the net access of the various account holders in the LAN. A proxy-server is a software installed in and designed to operate concurrently with the LAN server to provide internet access to all desktop users in an environment . Proxy-servers can work with any kind of network operating systems, i.e. UNIX, NT, or Novell. Proxy-server based IAM software provides security by using two Network Interface Cards (NIC) to segment the internet connection from the LAN. It forces users who want to surf to pass through the proxy server to get to the router and then on to the internet.

The other software is installed at the users end. These are known as network monitors and protocol sniffers. Here, the obvious disadvantage is the installation of the software at every node that can overburden the systems crew.

IAMs function in many ways. One type of IAM software does not restrict an individuals access to the net in any way. Instead, it provides a comprehensive monitoring of the corporate clients net surfing activities. It generates a telephone bill type of list, one which has the name of all sites visited by any particular user with the machine address and user names in the companys account. Thus, if an employee has visited 30 sites in one month, at the end of the month, the software can provide details such as names of the sites accessed and time spent there. Some examples of proxy-server software are SmartFilter from Secure Computing Corp., SurfWatch from Spyglass Inc., WebSense from NetPartners Internet Solutions Inc., and SeQuel Net Access Manager from Sequel Technology Corp. Some examples of network monitor and protocol sniffer utility software are LittleBrother from Kansmen Corp and ON Guard from ON Technology Corporation.

Other software blocks access to restricted sites and the searches which contain certain restricted words. For example, if a company wishes to stop employees from accessing pornographic sites, or engage in job hunting, or log on to frivolous chat channels, it can configure it with certain key words such as sex, porn, resumes, careers etc. The user cannot access any site which contains those words.

Other IAMs read your mail for obscene words, or information considered to be trade secret. They then stop all such types of outward bound e-mail and generate a report that can be accessed by the management.

To supply the most choices to the user, some of these software restrict the address according to previously specified time-frames, open the access only during lunch time and in the late evening, all of which options can be changed by an administrator. Internet Snap Shot from Tinwald Networking, WebSense from Net Partners Internet Solutions Inc., Web Surf from Spyglass Inc. and Sequels Net Access Manager are some of the IS managers favourites. However, others such as Net Nanny and Cybersitter are targetted at the home markets to meet parents and schools concerns over childrens Internet surfing.

On the other hand developers of internet filtering and monitoring utilities continually update their lists of the objectionable URLs (uniform resources locator) under different categories. We update the lists at least weekly, says Mark Kanter, director of marketing for Solid Oak Software.

The law is still to come face to face with the issue can your employer control your internet access? Most companies think they can and are going ahead with their monitoring. Meanwhile, as an employee, be on the safe side. Do not be naive enough to think your company wont monitor your Web habits. Or even your e-mail. Keep your business separate from personal work. Surf at home when the reasons are personal and use a separate e-mail account for personal mail. If you absolutely have to surf at the office for reasons other than official, keep it in mind that surfers leave trails wherever they visit, and many sites leave little pieces of software called cookies on your hard disk to recognise you when you visit next time. So, even without any deliberate monitoring, a company can find out where you surfed. Play it safe.

Manish Khanduri and Bhalinder Singh