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06 August 2008 00:38
Do you know you are at risk from the Internet?

The Internet is a great business tool that provides real benefits to just about every type and size of organisation. But, like any business resource its use needs to be controlled to ensure that it is not being abused and you are not leaving yourself and your business open to tribunal and court claims. 

First, some figures that might surprise you:

  • Employees admitted to wasting about 30% of their time online each month (YouGov)
  • 25% of companies have dismissed employees for persistent, inappropriate Internet use. (Personnel Today Magazine)
  • 46% of all online shopping happens at work (Business Software Alliance)
  • 10% of Internet users are Web addicts (New York Times) 
Avoiding a prison sentence
Although these statistics are quite frightening and reveal widespread abuse of workplace resources, this is not the whole story. If you do not put in place procedures and processes that aim to prevent this misuse it could lead to civil or criminal prosecution. Not only for your organisation as whole but also the directors and senior management - leading to jail terms of up to 10 years!

So what can you do to ensure that this does not happen to you? Well, the first thing is to put in place an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). The AUP should clearly define the rules and regulations for all IT use within your organisation. It should detail what is and what is not acceptable. It should also spell out out the sanctions for any breaches of the rules contained within the AUP.

The AUP should be issued to all members of your staff who should accept in writing that they have read and understood the policy and agree to it.

Monitoring Internet Use
The second part of the solution is to put in place a Web filtering solution so that you can proactively monitor and where necessary block access to inappropriate or non-work related Web site. This will help ensure that should the worst happen and you find yourself having to dismiss someone through persistent Internet abuse or defend a tribunal or civil claim, you can show that you have taken steps to put in place procedures and processes to protect staff from the affects of Internet abuse.

Such a step would require you to inform your staff that you are monitoring their Internet access, but this is for breaches of your AUP and therefore they should not be alarmed if they are operating within its regulations.

Like any resource, staff need clear rules and guidelines on what is and is not permissible with regard to Internet use. Many organisations are overlooking workplace Internet use at their peril. Make sure yours is not one of them.
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