New data shows businesses may be clueless about proxy abuse in their organizations...Schools long have struggled with savvy students who run anonymous Web proxy tools to bypass Web filters and secretly access banned Websites and content. But the use of these potentially dangerous tools within the enterprise appears to be more widespread than was once thought.
A new study released today indicates that businesses may be clueless about the breadth of the problem: While 15 percent of IT managers report that Web filter bypass tools are in use in their organizations, it turns out that these tools are actually in use in three out of four organizations, according to FaceTime Communications, which polled both IT managers and its own customers on the topic.
"In some cases, the perception is not reality," says Frank Cabri, vice president of marketing and product management for FaceTime, whose customers provided the actual usage data in the study. "This doesn't surprise us -- but the difference [in perception and reality] is dramatic." (more)
"...employee use of Web 2.0 applications such as Instant Messaging, IPTV, VoIP and Social Networking on corporate networks exceeds IT estimates by up to 10 times." (more)
Why is all this important to you?
• Your IT folks are not seeing this end run. ($)
• You are probably paying your employees to surf, not work. ($$)
• It is an open back door to your intellectual property. ($$$)
