We recently created a Twitter account to help keep you updated on product and industry developments. Tweets include updates on CyBlock and Cyfin’s latest product releases, technical and usage tips, and company and industry news on Internet usage issues that affect businesses and schools. This includes Internet-related news that addresses current bandwidth concerns, productivity losses, legal liability and security threats.
Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/WavecrestNet.
New versions of Wavecrest Computing’s CyBlock and Cyfin Internet filtering and monitoring software were recently released. Below is a list of some of the enhancements included in these versions.
For full release notes on the products, please visit the forum at https://forum.wavecrest.net/index.php. Current customers can download the latest release from their product by going to the Administration – Product Update screen.
With high unemployment rates and the potential of them rising even more, you would think that employees are doing whatever they can to be productive and keep their jobs. Instead, according to a study by Nielson Online in October 2008, visits to porn sites at work is up 23 percent from the previous year. This means that almost one quarter of employees are visiting porn sites during the workday. “Hits to porn sites are highest during office hours than at any other time of day,” according to M.J. McMahon, publisher of AVN Online magazine, which tracks the adult video industry.
Some analysts believe that it has to do with the declining economy and people looking for an escape, while others speculate that it has to do with a younger generation in the workforce that has grown up accepting porn as a part of life.
Regardless, porn surfing at work poses a major legal liability risk for businesses. This type of activity puts the employer at serious risk of being sued by other workers who are offended or upset by being exposed to pornographic images. Such suits usually take the form of ‘sexual harassment’ or ‘hostile workplace’ litigation and can be very costly in terms of damage to reputation as well as legal costs. In addition to the legal costs, businesses also have to be concerned about costs due to loss of productivity.
In fact, the Senate Finance Committee is investigating the misuse of NSF computers by government officials to view online pornographic material. In one instance, the report cites an NSF “senior official” who allegedly spent 20 percent of his work hours “viewing sexually explicit” Web sites. This amounts to a potential loss of $58,000 in employee compensation.
According to Salary.com, the average employee wastes 2.09 hours a day on the Internet. An average administrative employee costs a company $37.84 per hour according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. For a company with 1,000 employees, this amounts to over $18 million in productivity losses in a year.
A simple and cost-effective way employers can help ensure that employees use the Internet for productive purposes and not visit sites that pose a legal liability threat to the company is to filter and/or monitor Web access. Wavecrest Computing offers Internet filtering and monitoring products CyBlock and Cyfin, to fit any organization’s needs. The average cost for a Wavecrest product with a 1000-employee license is $3,500 per year. This is less than two tenths of one percent of the cost of lost productivity, making an Internet filtering or monitoring solution well worth the investment.
Sources:
https://www.newsweek.com/id/171279
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/01/28/grassley-launches-inquiry-widespread-porn-charges-nsf/
Before the end of the year, all of us at Wavecrest would like to wish all of our customers and readers a Happy Holiday and Happy New Year! We also wanted to leave you with one final product tip for the year.
If you are ever concerned about losing your configuration in your CyBlock or Cyfin product, there is no need to worry. A backup of the configuration files for your CyBlock or Cyfin product is created on a nightly basis in a folder called ‘restore’. This backup is stored in daily files for the past 30 days. Therefore, if you ever lose any configuration for any reason, our technical support team can retrieve this data from you. Simply contact technical support for instructions on sending the proper information, and they will extract the file and send it back to you.
You can contact technical support by phone at 321-953-5351, ext. 4 or by email at support@wavecrest.net.
The Wavecrest Computing product news system was introduced in September 2006 in CyBlock Version 5.5.3 and Cyfin Version 7.5.3. If you have one of these versions of CyBlock and Cyfin or later, you may notice that the icon below occasionally shows up in the right-hand corner of the browser interface indicating that you have new product news.
This icon will stay in the upper right-hand corner of the browser interface until you click on it to read your product news.
We send product news to let you know general and critical information about your product. Product news items are generally updates or things you need to know about the latest product release.
When viewing a news item, you will notice at the top that we indicate whether or not the news is Critical or Non-critical. Critical news is identified with a red bar, meaning that it is very important that you read the message and may require some action, while Non-critical news is identified with a green bar. A Non-critical message is typically a notification that there is a new release or update available for your product.
New versions of Wavecrest Computing’s CyBlock and Cyfin monitoring and filtering software were recently released. They include the following new features and enhancements.
For full release notes on the products, please visit the forum at https://forum.wavecrest.net/index.php. Current customers can download the latest release from their product by going to the Administration – Product Update screen.
There’s a quick and easy way to get system and configuration information on your CyBlock or Cyfin product. Just go to Help – System Information – Server Information on your product’s menu, and it will take you to the Server Information screen, which gives you the:
You will also find your various directory configurations on this screen for your Scheduler Directory, Email Reports and more. This is a great screen to check out to find out how much available memory you have, if the URL list is properly configured, and where your configuration files are located.
The simple answer is “yes.”
A recent report published by McAfee showed that specific country domains and some generic domains are more dangerous than others. The most dangerous country domain is Hong Kong (.hk) with 19.2% of sites posing a security threat to visitors. Second to Hong Kong was China (.cn) with just over 11% of sites found to pose a security threat. The most dangerous generic domain is .info with 11.8% of sites posing a security threat, while government sites (.gov) still remain the safest domains.
The report also revealed that security threats from surfing the Web have increased 41.5% over 2007. So then the question becomes, “how can I protect my Internet users from accessing these sites that are prone to harboring spyware, adware, viruses, etc.?”
There are several steps you can take to help protect your network from a Web-use management perspective.
I am thrilled to announce that several enhancements were recently made to Wavecrest Computing’s Cyfin and CyBlock products. These include:
New Scalability. The latest versions of CyBlock Proxy and Cyfin Proxy include high-performance scalability. These new scalable multiplexed proxy servers replace the previous thread-based versions, meaning that they can handle large numbers of users and requests. These new versions will:
Enhanced Reporting Options. Several enhancements were made to the Web-use reporting features for all products. These include:
Array Configuration. The array feature is now available for blocking policies in the latest version of CyBlock ISA. For full release notes on the products, please visit the forum at https://forum.wavecrest.net/index.php. Current customers can download the latest release from their product by going to the Administration – Product Update screen.
Introduction
Spyware – software that tracks Web surfers’ activity without their knowledge and sends the information back to a third party – is a growing concern for IT administrators. Spyware can compromise security, consume bandwidth and slow networks to a crawl. The good news is you can help protect your network from spyware with Cyfin and CyBlock software.
Spyware Problems
Spyware can get into your computer(s) very easily, and it can be extremely hard to detect. Most employees never realize their computers are infected, and those that do have no idea how it happened.
Because spyware enters a user’s system with “legitimate” traffic through an open Internet port, firewalls are not an adequate defense. Spyware remains undetected by firewalls designed to block suspicious inbound traffic rather than monitor the heavy outbound activity spyware generates. (Inbound spyware doesn’t look suspicious.)
Wavecrest Solutions
Your Cyfin web monitoring software or CyBlock web filtering software can help identify spyware and reduce your risk of downloading it in the future.
1) Use reporting tools to spot spyware activity with Cyfin or CyBlock.
A. Look for unusual patterns of Web activity. Run a Site Analysis report at least once a week and be alert to changes in the volume and pattern of outbound Web activity. For example, if a single user is suddenly logging thousands of visits a day, chances are it’s a spyware issue. That’s because “human” activity is usually more random than spyware activity. Here’s another clue. If you notice that every morning at 3 a.m. a user appears to be accessing the same Web site repeatedly, most likely the activity is being automatically triggered by a spyware program.
B. Watch the IP Address category. High activity in this reporting category should raise a red flag for administrators. Most spyware programs send information back to an IP address, while actual user activity is almost always driven by a domain name. Wavecrest software will categorize all IP Address activity automatically. High traffic volume here warrants further investigation.
C. Identify the source of the problem. Dig deeper by running a Category Audit Detail report to uncover both the spyware site and the affected user. If your Category Audit Detail report shows an unusual number of hits to a specific Web site, that site is most likely the source.
2) Use CyBlock’s filtering tools to control surfing.
A. Create a strict “allow” list. One way to prevent spyware is to strictly control employee Internet access. With CyBlock, you can limit online access to only the Web sites you know to be trustworthy and automatically block access to any Web site not on your “allow” list.
B. Block access to social networks high-risk sites. Another less restrictive way to minimize exposure to spyware is to block user access to high-risk site categories. These include spyware/malicious, hacking, phishing/fraud, music downloads, download sites, social networks, games, chat and pornography.
3) Update your Web-use management tools.
A. Update your Acceptable Use Policy. Employees need to understand the risks of Web surfing. Minimize risks of Internet abuse by implementing a policy to curtail at-work surfing and communicate it clearly to employees.
B. Update your Wavecrest list. The Wavecrest control list is updated daily, adding Web sites known to host spyware. We recommend downloading your Wavecrest control list daily to minimize the number of visits categorized as “Other” and ensure the best coverage possible. You can set Cyfin and CyBlock to do this automatically on the Administration – URL List – Schedule screen.
(Note: If you spot a Web site you suspect may be spyware, email it to us at sites@wavecrest.net. Our OtherWise research team will review the site and categorize it appropriately.)
C. Update your operating system. Download updates to your operating system on a regular basis. Spyware multiplies on your network by exploiting weaknesses in OS software. Frequent updates will help plug these holes and minimize the damage if you become infected.
4) Work with your employees.
Counsel employees about the dangers of spyware. Brief your employees on the dangers and detrimental effects of malicious software, and tell them about the actions you’re taking as well as the actions they should take and the sites they should avoid.