Corporate Workforce Push Out 50% Unproductive Web Traffic

Of the total web traffic appearing from corporate networks, nearly half do not relate to work, according to Global Threat Report, a monthly report by ScanSafe. Itnews published it on March 21, 2007. The security firm monitoring web traffic found that 50% in February related to gambling requests, pornography, and music and webmail sites.

ScanSafe reported it blocked 24 new IM attacks in February. 54% of that affected MSN Messenger while 21% affected Yahoo and 17% - AOL Instant Messenger (AIM).

Uncontrolled web use can not only has undesirable impact on productivity but also results in severe and expensive consequences for all businesses, according to a statement by Dan Nadir, vice president of product strategy at ScanSafe that Itnews published on March 21, 2007.

Nadir also said that on special events like the Valentine's Day, FIFA World Cup, Grand National, and Super Bowl employees at workplace tend to push out unproductive Internet traffic.

The ScanSafe report provided some statistics saying it blocked 14% of advertisements and promotions, 12% of online chat and Instant Messaging sites, 10% of Webmail, music, pornographic and gambling sites each accounting 4% of the blocks. The gambling sites blocked, increased to 22% during January. Labmgr published this on March 20, 2007.

There was a slight decline in February malware, said the company report. Web viruses that had increased 27% in the month of January remained almost same in February. Adware and spyware came down 2% in February in comparison to January when it increased 26%.

Web malware has a general tendency to jump in January to take on to a partial drop in February. New Year is the time when attackers expect a better spread of malware because users have just returned from vacation and haven't yet patched their computers. So malware, especially spyware steadily rises with the progress of the year, ScanSafe said in a statement that Securitypark.co.uk published on March 20, 2007.

ScanSafe also thinks there will be a jump in requests for gambling and sports-related sites in U.S. all through March during the NCAA Division 1 Basketball Championship game when users place online bets.

Related article: Corporate End Users Disdainful to IT Security

» SPAMfighter News - 3/28/2007