Category Archives: Uncategorized

Are you leaving your small business Web-use security door open?

There is so much to be concerned with when running a small business. Economic uncertainty, the cost of health insurance benefits, regulatory burdens, keeping mission-critical operations running–all add up to a stressful experience. Now security concerns include more than just locking the doors; it means everything digital too. And the risks? With ransomware, phishing, insider threats, unsanctioned cloud apps, BYOD . . . lets just say, the Internet usage risks are probably even higher than the front door being left open . . . wide open.

Many small and midsized businesses (SMBs) are without full-time IT departments or even full-time IT personnel, making them a prime target for breaches. But SMBs tend to think they don’t have the resources to handle this type of security, whether it be the financial consideration, personnel needed, or when hardware is preferred, limited space constraints. Since hackers know this, SMBs have to be proactive when it comes to Web-use security–nowadays, even more so than corporations.

The connection between the human and the Internet is a weak link, making it one of the leading access points into a system for a hacker. Whether it’s from the employee clicking a Web link in an e-mail, clicking a malicious ad, or sharing company information with a cloud service, make sure to protect the business by managing that employee-Internet connection. Find a solution that allows you to easily and proactively monitor and secure your employees’ Web activity. Your business is unique–finding a way to solve these issues and concerns will take a unique solution.

A few tips for your Web-use security solution search:

  1. Find a vendor who will spend the time with you. The cyber world has its own language. It’s important to have a human being on the other end of the phone during the sales process, in customer service, and when you need technical support . . . yup, they still have human beings in technical support . . . go figure! Get with a company who wants to talk to you!
  2. Of course, it doesn’t help if that vendor doesn’t have what you need so make sure you list the top security priorities for your business. Do you want to filter access to certain Web sites or categories such as social media, or do you want to limit time that an employee may spend on one site? Are you are more concerned with your guest Wi-Fi and BYOD or throttling bandwidth use? Don’t get sold on something that doesn’t meet at least your primary concerns. One solution does not always fit all . . . in today’s cybersecurity world you need to focus on your specific business concerns. Just because an expensive, large scale, all-in-one network security solution or firewall has a Web-use add-on tool does not mean it will give you the pertinent, granular detail and control that you need to protect your mission-critical operations.
  3. Ask questions. The vendor should understand that you excel at what you do, not what they do. Don’t be intimidated by the security subject. Even those of us in this business spend a lot of time keeping up with the fast pace of cybersecurity. No question is unnecessary. If you think about it, then it is important to you and should be to the vendor too. Refer to Tip #1!
  4. Last tip for today . . . solutions come in many shapes and sizes. Don’t settle for something that doesn’t fit your business. Your business is special and unique. Your solution should fit and work in your environment without you constantly having to justify it and make it fit in.

Wavecrest can, and wants to, help you!

Wavecrest provides Filtering and User Behavior Reporting solutions that fit your business! Find out more about our Cyfin and CyBlock deployments today. As a customer-centric company, Wavecrest focuses on the needs of each customer. Let us help secure your business with a solution that fits every business size, type, and configuration.

About Wavecrest

Trusted for over 25 years, Wavecrest Computing, headquartered in historic downtown Melbourne, FL, has provided commercial business and government clients with reliable, accurate Web-use management and User Behavior Analytic products since 1996. Managed Service Providers, IT specialists, HR professionals, and business managers trust Wavecrest’s Cyfin and CyBlock products to manage employee Internet usage — managing and reporting on cloud services, reducing liability risks, improving productivity, saving bandwidth, and controlling costs. Wavecrest has commercial and government clients worldwide. For more information on the company, products, and partners, visit https://www.wavecrest.net.

This year, allow your employees some freedom to watch March Madness!

Time to celebrate basketball!

One of basketball’s biggest events is here again. The past few months have been pretty emotional for fans. This may very well make this year’s March Madness even more focused and passionate for everyone. You can choose to let your employees catch up on results with maintaining the visibility, control, and security you need to keep your business running smoothly.

This year, Wavecrest Computing offers tips that you should know from past years but also some important new ones. Having customizable reports and the ability to see rollups of time spent online, we know these new tips will help you keep up with the changes in technology and streaming!

Let’s start with these new tips! We know seeing the real Web browsing activity should not be time-consuming and cumbersome: especially for busy managers, HR, legal, and yes, even IT. So, making sure the information is easy to understand is critical for your business all year but especially during a heavy Internet-use time.

  • Make sure your managers have access to see the info they need, when they need it, with their own restricted access. Manager Portal is a key component for business. 
  • Be sure you can customize reports for each manager so they can quickly and easily see their own employees’ Web usage without a lot of extra technical data. Customizable Report Templates and their drag-and-drop features makes life so much easier!
  • Roll it all up please! It’s important to know how much time is really spent on a web site. But with all the noise caused by ads, like buttons, share buttons, images, videos, and more…how do you know the real intentional activity you are looking for? Roll it all up under an understandable heading! Managers want to see activity for Facebook, ESPN, or NCAA! Tagging and rollup is the only thing that makes that available!

And of course, the tips you should already know to keep your business in good shape during this exciting time of year:

  • Not all ads or search results are real. March Madness search results or ads have been known for malware. Filtering, black/white listing, whatever way you choose. This is crucial!
  • Restrict sites that are inappropriate or illegal. Be aware of what your employees are doing online. Gambling sites are not just a legal issue but also tend to carry many security risks. Category filtering allows you to pick the whole category to block, the rest is taken care of.
  • Don’t let your bandwidth slow the rest of the business down. Make sure you are able to easily view and throttle current data usage for the entire enterprise, detect unexpected spikes that could indicate excessive data use, or just observe real-time updates. Throttling helps keep mission-critical business a priority, proactively.

The biggest tip for March Madness? Get your business set up with a Web-use management solution that will offer these tools all year long. Take it off your plate and breeze through the constant ups and downs of Internet usage. Shopping seasons, streaming seasons, current events…let them stay up to date without worrying about what it will do to your bottom line. Employees happy can easily outweigh the concerns during these times of more than usual Internet use. Be proactive… and let them celebrate.

Let us help.

This year, choose to allow your employees some freedom to watch and enjoy! Find out more about all the Web management product lines at Wavecrest Computing.

About Us

CyBlock® Employee Web Filtering and Monitoring Solutions provide advanced Web filtering, threat protection, comprehensive employee reporting, Smart Engine with machine-learning analytics, easy-to-use admin and manager portals, and more. Customers can easily configure CyBlock to monitor and manage compliance with their usage policies. CyBlock is available in various deployment options: CyBlock Virtual Appliance, CyBlock Appliance, CyBlock Mini Appliance, CyBlock Cloud, and CyBlock Hybrid.

Cyfin® provides advanced employee Web-use analysis and reporting for a wide variety of gateway devices and log file formats. Comprehensive yet easy to use, its customizable reporting and machine-learning analytics supply audience-specific Web-use information with reliable metrics, easy-to-read reporting dashboards, manager-ready detailed audit reports, and Smart Engine analytics. Cyfin is available in various deployment options: Cyfin Virtual Appliance and Cyfin Forensic.

Wavecrest has over 20 years of proven history of providing reliable, accurate Web-use management, filtering, reporting, and analytics products across various industries. IT specialists, business managers, HR professionals, Managed Service Providers, and Forensics Investigators trust Wavecrest’s Cyfin and CyBlock products to easily decipher and manage real employee Web activity, manage cloud services, reduce liability risks, improve productivity, save bandwidth, and control costs. Trusted by large government and commercial organizations such as US-CERT Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Justice, USPS Office of Inspector General, National Grid, Johns Hopkins, and a growing list of global enterprises and government agencies. We are a proud long-term GSA contract holder. For more information on the company, products, and partners, visit Wavecrest.

Small can still be powerful!

CyBlock Mini Appliance – Compact yet Robust!

Don’t be fooled by the name–CyBlock Mini Appliance is powerful, comprehensive, and worth every inch of its compactness. Built for managing your business’ employee Internet access in the most convenient, budget-friendly way possible!

Maintaining visibility throughout your workforce is key to running a secure business today. Don’t settle on just any Web-use management solution that really doesn’t meet your needs. If you need coverage for a remote office, have limited space either in your server room or in your office, or are struggling with how to keep your business Internet access secure with a limited IT budget, Wavecrest has more choices than ever. No matter what business size or industry type, CyBlock Mini Appliance is likely to be just what you have been looking for.

The powerful Mini Appliance provides the comprehensive Web-use management capabilities of CyBlock, including URL filtering, comprehensive detailed reporting, secure guest Wi-Fi services with captive portal, advanced threat protection, bandwidth management, cloud services management, as well as coverage for non-HTTP activity, e.g., P2P, torrents, IM, and e-mail. Get all of this in one compact and economical package. The general size of a Wi-Fi hub, the Mini allows you to put it in the corner, on your desk, or in that tiny space you have left in your packed server room!

As a cost-effective choice for any business type or size, the robust, yet compact Mini Appliance provides the leading-edge, comprehensive Web-use filtering, reporting, and security capabilities of CyBlock. Designed to fit every business environment, the Mini Appliance can be paired with CyBlock Appliance or deployed on its own, depending on the required Web-use needs.

For more information on CyBlock Mini Appliance or any of our other products, please contact us today!

About Wavecrest ComputingFor over 20 years Wavecrest Computing, headquartered in historic downtown Melbourne, FL, has been providing commercial business and government clients with reliable, accurate Web-use management, monitoring, and analytics products. Managed Service Providers, IT specialists, HR professionals, and business managers trust Wavecrest’s Cyfin and CyBlock products to monitor and manage employee Internet usage — managing cloud services, reducing liability risks, improving productivity, saving bandwidth, and controlling costs. Wavecrest has clients worldwide, including General Electric, Lockheed Martin, Florida Department of Health, Siemens, Department of Homeland Security, and a growing list of global enterprises and government agencies. We are a proud long-term GSA contract holder. For more information on the company, products, and partners, visit https://www.wavecrest.net.

Your Employees are Now Working From Just About Anywhere

Employees Working From Anywhere Get easy-to-launch cloud-based Web filtering service. CyBlock Cloud.

“Joe is working remote today,” mentions his manager. Today, “Joe” can actually be any one of your employees. With companies now operating in so many flexible ways, employees have the opportunity to work from anywhere. (Okay, most are not working from space . . . not yet anyway!) How do managers maintain productivity? How does IT manage the usage of Internet-connected devices and associated security risks? The company is still responsible for employees’ Web use no matter where they are working from. With “Joe” being in California tomorrow and Canada next week, it is critical for the business to find the right Web-use filtering and management tool for roaming or remote workers, as well as cover the more static workforce. A cloud-based solution is the only way to go. When researching the best cloud-based Web activity filtering and management solution for your distributed workforce there are some important benefits to ask for.

  • Fast Deployment – The ability to set up and be filtering Web use in minutes.
  • Supports Unique Environments and Workforce – The solution should be highly elastic and adaptable.
  • Entire Distributed Workforce Coverage – Easily scales to all offices and users, regardless of location.
  • User-Centered Focus – Follows the user with perimeter-less coverage.
  • Cost and Time Effective – No hardware installation or maintenance.

Wavecrest can help. CyBlock Cloud is an easy-to-launch cloud-based Web filtering service. Apply regardless of employee location, without the cost of hardware or software installations and ongoing maintenance.

Let us focus on your business and your specific requirements. Contact us and speak to a U.S.-based customer service or technical support person today. We consider it part of the job to keep our prospects and customers happy.

About Us

CyBlock® Employee Web Filtering and Monitoring Solutions provide advanced Web filtering, threat protection, comprehensive employee reporting, Smart Engine analytics, easy-to-use admin and manager portals, and more. Customers can easily configure CyBlock to monitor and manage compliance with their usage policies. CyBlock is available in various deployment options: CyBlock Virtual Appliance, CyBlock Appliance, CyBlock Mini Appliance, CyBlock Cloud, and CyBlock Hybrid.

Cyfin® provides advanced employee Web-use analysis and reporting for a wide variety of gateway devices and log file formats. Comprehensive yet easy to use, its customized reporting capabilities supply audience-specific Web-use information with reliable metrics, easy-to-read reporting dashboards, manager-ready detailed audit reports, and Smart Engine analytics. Cyfin is available in various deployment options: Cyfin Virtual Appliance and Cyfin Forensic.

Wavecrest has over 20 years of proven history of providing reliable, accurate Web-use management and Advanced Log File Analyzer products across various industries. IT specialists, business managers, HR professionals, Managed Service Providers, and Forensics Investigators trust Wavecrest’s Cyfin and CyBlock products to easily decipher and manage real employee Web activity, manage cloud services, reduce liability risks, improve productivity, save bandwidth, and control costs. Trusted by large government and commercial organizations such as US-CERT Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Justice, USPS Office of Inspector General, National Grid, Johns Hopkins, and a growing list of global enterprises and government agencies. We are a proud long-term GSA contract holder. For more information on the company, products, and partners, visit Wavecrest.

March 2019 . . . The month of pure Madness

March Madness and CyBlock

Once again we are approaching the month of over-the-top basketball excitement–March Madness. So much excitement that viewership went through the roof again last year! According to the NCAA, the 2018 series had 97 million U.S. viewers from series beginning to the Final Four!

Though some actual regular TV viewers may have decreased in 2018, the overall numbers businesses need to worry about increased–the streamers! Sportstechie.com reports that Turner Sports saw an increase of livestreams by “28% and hours consumed climbed 14% compared with two years ago.”

This popular time of year impacts the workplace now more than ever. But you can choose to let them watch! Having good management of employee Web usage is the key to the days of Madness!

The things to watch for are the same every year–but they do get better at tricking everyone. So our recommendation may sound familiar but we can’t emphasize enough that at this time of year being proactive and vigilant is so important.

Some key points to remember:

  • Make sure you can see just real Web browsing activity.
    • Some say they show you the Web-use activity but the information ends up cluttered with all the computer communications. Seeing Web browsing activity should not be time consuming and cumbersome. Get a solution that clearly shows you employee Web-use activity without all the computer transactions!
  • Not all ads or search results are real.
    • Security risks are numerous this time of year. March Madness search results have been known for malware. As your employees search for brackets or results, you need to block traffic to the constantly growing number of sites that generate and/or promote malware. Keep out viruses, Trojan horses, phishing attacks, and more. And remember, these searches will trigger remarketing ads that may also contain malware.
  • Restrict sites that are inappropriate or illegal.
    • Be aware of what your employees are doing online. Gambling sites are not just a legal issue but also tend to carry many security risks.
  • Don’t let your bandwidth slow the rest of the business down.
    • Make sure you are able to easily view current data usage for the entire enterprise, detect unexpected spikes that could indicate excessive data use, or just observe the last 5, 10, or 15 minutes of real-time updates.
    • You should also make sure you will be able to keep the critical business operations running efficiently, even during the games, by using bandwidth throttling.

March Madness has become a way of life. Decide how your company will handle the traffic and proactively manage it by letting us help protect and secure your business and your employees.

Wavecrest’s CyBlock Filtering and Monitoring Suite will help manage your employees’ Web use and protect your business. CyBlock will block sites known for malware, proactively control bandwidth consumption, and keep productivity flowing, while allowing responsible viewing. This year, have the choice to allow your employees some freedom to watch and enjoy! Find out more about all the Web management product lines at Wavecrest Computing.

World Cup 2018 starts next week… is your business ready?

The US may have disappointed many by being knocked out of the World Cup 2018, but don’t think fans will want to miss watching the games anyway. No matter where you are geographically, the World Cup is an event that carries fans even when their team doesn’t make it all the way! Is your business prepared for your employees’ inevitable streaming and Web surfing?

Even four years ago, many may have watched the World Cup on cable or satellite TV versus streaming. In 2018 though, many, known as cord-cutters, have even chosen to remove cable services at home and just stream on their televisions–making streaming a new way of life! Since the games are based in Russia this year, the time difference will likely cause games to be during working hours not only in the US, but even in Europe. Which means, devoted fans, I mean employees, may end up streaming at work potentially slowing down or clogging your bandwidth.

There is also the neverending threat of phishing e-mails and malicious ads. They tend to increase exponentially around events like this. Now is the time to make sure you have tools in place to block intentional or accidental access to malicious URL links, and have some refresher training for your employees on what to look for, avoid, and report.

The World Cup doesn’t happen often. It might be time to just let them catch some highlights on company time. But that doesn’t mean you have to risk productivity, bandwidth speed, or network and data security. CyBlock allows you to choose how much or how little risk, and to even change your mind in the middle. Let them enjoy without sacrificing your organizational priorities.

CyBlock® Employee Web Filtering and Monitoring Solutions provide advanced Web filtering, threat protection, comprehensive employee reporting, Smart Engine analytics, easy-to-use admin and manager portals, and more. Customers can easily configure CyBlock to monitor and manage compliance with their usage policies. CyBlock is available in various deployment options: CyBlock Software, CyBlock Appliance, CyBlock Mini Appliance, CyBlock Cloud, and CyBlock Hybrid as well as a Virtual Appliance version.

About Wavecrest
Wavecrest has over 20 years of proven history of providing reliable, accurate Web-use management and Advanced Log File Analyzer products across various industries. Managed Service Providers, IT specialists, HR professionals, Forensics Investigators, and business managers trust Wavecrest’s Cyfin and CyBlock products to manage the human factor in business Internet usage — managing cloud services, reducing liability risks, improving productivity, saving bandwidth, and controlling costs. Trusted by large government and commercial organizations such as US-CERT Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Justice, USPS Office of Inspector General, National Grid, Johns Hopkins, and a growing list of global enterprises and government agencies. We are a proud long-term GSA contract holder. For more information on the company, products, and partners, visit Wavecrest.

No more consolidation confusion . . . just leading employee Web-use management solutions that fit.

Companies change, grow, restructure, merge, acquire, and get acquired. It’s business and we know how that can be. Those of us that have seen this happen from within know that true impacts to the general business structure and overall goals don’t really show up for a year or two. Rarely does an acquired or merged business stay the same. The impact though can be internal, within the employee structure or daily business operations, or there can be  more obvious external impact to the financial status of the business, such as going private, or to the customer base focus. The last being the most likely to cause a domino-style effect of disruption.

Now is the time to really consider how to handle the consolidation changes that have been announced by Forcepoint. With the Raytheon acquisition of Websense a few years ago, everyone knew changes would come eventually. Unfortunately, the recently announced business consolidation will tend to leave some traditional Web-use management customers out in the cold. Whether you were a Websense customer before Raytheon or have gone to Forcepoint looking for the Websense-style solution in the last few years, you know what you are looking for from a Web-use management solution. Give CyBlock and Cyfin a try. Depending on what you need for your unique business, the first and only decision you need to make is Wavecrest. With deployments to fit every business size, type, and need, Wavecrest will allow you the comfort of moving away from the large corporate hassles to a successful, mature, privately held vendor that proudly focuses on customer needs and technological advancements.

Leave the government contractor-level pricing, contractual terms, and confusion behind. Don’t become another ticket number. Let Wavecrest focus on your business and your specific requirements. Contact us and speak to a U.S.-based customer service or technical support person today. We consider it part of the job to keep our customers happy.

CyBlock® Employee Web Filtering and Monitoring Solutions provide advanced Web filtering, threat protection, comprehensive employee reporting, Smart Engine analytics, easy-to-use admin and manager portals, and more. Customers can easily configure CyBlock to monitor and manage compliance with their usage policies. CyBlock is available in various deployment options: CyBlock Software, CyBlock Appliance, CyBlock Mini Appliance, CyBlock Cloud, and CyBlock Hybrid as well as a Virtual Appliance version.

Cyfin® provides advanced employee Web-use analysis and reporting for a wide variety of gateway devices and log file formats. Comprehensive yet easy to use, its customized reporting capabilities supply audience-specific Web-use information with reliable metrics, easy-to-read reporting dashboards, manager-ready detailed audit reports, and Smart Engine analytics. Cyfin is available in various deployment options: Cyfin Software, Cyfin Forensic, and Cyfin VM.

About Wavecrest
Wavecrest has over 20 years of proven history of providing reliable, accurate Web-use management and Advanced Log File Analyzer products across various industries. Managed Service Providers, IT specialists, HR professionals, Forensics Investigators, and business managers trust Wavecrest’s Cyfin and CyBlock products to manage the human factor in business Internet usage — managing cloud services, reducing liability risks, improving productivity, saving bandwidth, and controlling costs. Trusted by large government and commercial organizations such as US-CERT Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Justice, USPS Office of Inspector General, National Grid, Johns Hopkins, and a growing list of global enterprises and government agencies. We are a proud long-term GSA contract holder. For more information on the company, products, and partners, visit Wavecrest.

Madness of March 2018…snow, cold, and of course, basketball!

March Madness has begun and it is an exciting year already for basketball lovers. Knowing some of the games have been “nail-biters” this year, employees are definitely checking out highlights or even streaming a whole game on your network. WalletHub says, “unproductive workers during March Madness amounted to an estimated $6.3 billion in corporate losses.”

This year, have the choice to allow your employees some freedom to watch and enjoy! CyBlock Filtering and Monitoring Suite will help monitor and protect your business, blocking sites known for malware, proactively controlling bandwidth consumption, and keeping productivity flowing, while allowing responsible viewing.

With Wavecrest’s Bandwidth Management in CyBlock, there are numerous ways to be able to control access when you need to. With Real-Time Data Usage Monitoring, you will be able to easily view current data usage for the entire enterprise, detect unexpected spikes that could indicate excessive data use, or just observe the last 5, 10, or 15 minutes of real-time updates.

You can also make sure the critical business operations remain functioning efficiently, even during the games, by using the Bandwidth Throttling features. Be more restrictive as the noncritical usage gets higher by setting one of the automatically triggered, higher-usage policy thresholds to throttle more or even block. E-mail alerts will keep you informed wherever you are. Once a policy is activated, policy-specific traffic is throttled or blocked, allowing business-critical applications (VoIP, CRM, etc.) to continue operating as needed.  

Betting on the games has become increasingly popular. “According to the Gaming Association, 10 percent of adults — or roughly 24 million — reported spending nearly $3 billion in the past year on basketball pools alone,” notes cbssports.com. A more impactful example might be from WalletHub, “2x more is wagered on March Madness than the Super Bowl.” Be aware of what your employees are doing online, gambling sites are not just a legal issue but also tend to carry many security risks.

Security risks are numerous this time of year. March Madness search results have had a history of being known for malware in past years, and this year will likely be no different. As your employees search for brackets or results, CyBlock blocks traffic to the constantly growing number of sites that generate and/or promote malware. Keep out viruses, Trojan horses, phishing attacks, and more.

March Madness has become a way of life. Decide how your company will handle the traffic and proactively manage it by letting CyBlock help protect and secure your business and your employees. Find out more about all the Web management product lines at Wavecrest Computing.

About Wavecrest

Wavecrest has over 20 years of proven history of providing reliable, accurate Web-use management and Advanced Log File Analyzer products across various industries. Managed Service Providers, IT specialists, HR professionals, Forensics Investigators, and business managers trust Wavecrest’s Cyfin and CyBlock products to manage the human factor in business Internet usage — managing cloud services, reducing liability risks, improving productivity, saving bandwidth, and controlling costs. Trusted by large government and commercial organizations such as US-CERT Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Justice, USPS Office of Inspector General, National Grid, Johns Hopkins, and a growing list of global enterprises and government agencies. We are a proud long-term GSA contract holder. For more information on the company, products, and partners, visit Wavecrest.

It is holiday shopping time again! Cyber Monday is now more like Cyber Month!

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, we all know what is coming–Cyber Monday–the big day (now it is more like a month!) for personal employee Web use! More than ever before, businesses are open to employee use of the company Internet for personal use such as snagging some holiday deals. But what does this really mean for daily business operations? That depends.

There are definitely cyber risks associated with the season of shopping–malicious ads, phishing e-mails with malicious Web links, and slow bandwidth, to name a few. Paying attention to your employees’ Web usage is crucial. It is up to you whether you allow shopping on your network. If you do, there are steps you should take to manage this naturally vulnerable human endpoint.

  • Filter
    • Filtering allows you to reduce risks from malicious URLs in ads, phishing, etc. . . . employees are your weakest link. Train them continuously but also make sure there is a Web filtering solution in place to allow you to manage the Web use the way you see fit.
  • Manage Bandwidth Usage
    • This time of year employees may be doing things such as watching a video review of the latest in tech toys for their kids. Make sure your mission-critical operations are not affected. Configuring bandwidth limits by user-defined thresholds and setting trigger alerts will help you make sure you don’t have unnecessary bandwidth hogs slowing your business down.
  • Monitor Web use
    • Visibility means everything. With the right monitoring solution, you can easily analyze employee Web-usage trends, make sure your Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) is being followed, and get actionable, relevant detail when you need it.

These are only a few of the things that you can do to help reduce the risks associated with employee Web use all year long. Remember that human vulnerabilities are a leading cause of most network breaches. Focus on the human endpoint. Take the time to keep training employees, enforcing your AUP, monitoring, analyzing, and filtering.

At this time of year, you can feel good about allowing your employees some freedom to research or snag some holiday gift deals. Have a comprehensive employee Web filtering and monitoring solution in place, and enjoy your holidays even more knowing you are proactively managing employee Web activity!

About Wavecrest

Wavecrest has over 20 years of proven history of providing reliable, accurate Web-use management and Advanced Log File Analyzer products across various industries. Managed Service Providers, IT specialists, HR professionals, Forensics Investigators, and business managers trust Wavecrest’s Cyfin and CyBlock products to manage the human factor in business Internet usage — managing cloud services, reducing liability risks, improving productivity, saving bandwidth, and controlling costs. Trusted by large government and commercial organizations such as US-CERT Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Justice, USPS Office of Inspector General, National Grid, Johns Hopkins, and a growing list of global enterprises and government agencies. We are a proud long-term GSA contract holder. For more information on the company, products, and partners, visit https://www.wavecrest.net.

Are your employees full of March Madness? They will be!

March Madness always produces a high level of anticipation and excitement. It ranks up there with the Super Bowl and the World Cup for many people. So fans want to make sure they see the games that for every year, the amount of series streaming surpasses expectations. We can all watch them on our phones, tablets, laptops, and desktops at any time and anywhere. Because of this, many managers now allow for some freedom during this time, so their employees can get their yearly March Madness fix. But there are risks to the business to always consider.

Some March Madness 2016 statistics from NCAA to consider:

  • With 18.1 million live hours, the tournament generated more video consumption than any other tournament.
  • The national championship game generated 56 million impressions across March Madness social media accounts, up 112 percent over 2015.
  • Video consumption for social media was also up with 8 million views overall, more than five times the volume of video for last year’s championship game.

Is your business ready?

The first thing that pops into a manager’s mind is increased bandwidth use. It is an important thing to consider for sure since your business has mission-critical functions that have to run for your business to operate efficiently, even during increased Internet use. Making sure you can control and monitor bandwidth use by throttling nonessential traffic if needed, is critical to making the decision to allow streaming during any time, but especially during events like March Madness.

The things that may not immediately come to a manager’s mind may be the increase in malicious links generated during times of special events. In a world with cyber threats, such as ransomware, a business cannot ignore times when this risk increases. March Madness is a time when many keep track of all the games, not just their one team. They follow the process through the whole series and enjoy the competitive nature right down to the Final Four and beyond. They may be more prone to fall for a March Madness ad link for a stat update or phishing e-mail to check the latest game highlights. During the whole series and even before it starts, educating your employees about the increase in cyber threats, such as malicious Web sites and ads, and phishing e-mails, is important. Security solutions that offer features like white/black listing and filtering will allow you to maintain Web-use protection against the human tendency to click without analyzing if the link or e-mail makes sense.

Don’t just lock up employee Web-use. Protect your business and employees from threats, such as bandwidth hogs, malicious Web links, legal liabilities, and even productivity losses. Gain the control and security needed . . . and once again, let the games begin!

About Wavecrest Computing

Trusted for over 20 years, Wavecrest Computing, headquartered in historic downtown Melbourne, FL, has provided commercial business and government clients with reliable, accurate Web-use management and Cloud Access Security Broker products since 1996. Managed Service Providers, IT specialists, HR professionals, and business managers trust Wavecrest’s Cyfin and CyBlock products to manage employee Internet usage — managing cloud services, reducing liability risks, improving productivity, saving bandwidth, and controlling costs. Wavecrest has clients worldwide, including General Electric, Lockheed Martin, Florida Department of Health, Siemens, Department of Homeland Security, and a growing list of global enterprises and government agencies. We are a proud long-term GSA contract holder. For more information on the company, products, and partners, visit https://www.wavecrest.net.