SurveilStar Employee Monitoring Software

This document is the resource portal to more than 20 news reports, analyst, research articles, comments and other documents concerning the issues of employee monitoring.

Index of Employee Monitoring Related Resources

• 1. 2007 Electronic Monitoring & Surveillance Survey: Over Half of All Employers Combined...
• 2. 45% of big firms monitor workers
• 3. Analysis: Insiders a major security threat
• 4. Analysis: Your PC could be watching you
• 5. Battling workplace theft
• 6. Big Brother Is Watching
• 7. 'Call Quality Practices 2008' Research Conducted During Early 2007 Sought to Better...
• 8. Caution: Big business is watching employees
• 9. Cyber-security enters boardroom
• 10. Cyberveillance at work
• 11. Dow fires more employees over inappropriate e-mails
• 12. Employee study cites rampant Internet abuse
• 13. Employer e-snooping measure nears vote
• 14. Ex-State Dept. Employee admits passport snooping
• 15. Ex-Wal-Mart worker admits to spy campaign
• 16. Foreign Affairs Committee to Investigate Passport Snooping Case
• 17. Ford eyeing bathroom breaks
• 18. Fired Wal-Mart worker claims surveillance ops: report
• 19. Germans urge tougher laws after new privacy scandal
• 20. Inside jobs: Is there a hacker in the next cubicle?

1. 2007 Electronic Monitoring & Surveillance Survey: Over Half of All Employers Combined...

[Reuters.com,Thu Feb 28, 2008 9:35am EST]

[Excerpt]

From e-mail monitoring and Website blocking to phone tapping and GPS tracking, employers increasingly combine technology with policy tomanage productivity and minimize litigation, security, and other risks.

To motivate compliance with rules and policies, more than one fourth of employers have fired workers for misusing e-mail and nearly one third have fired employees for misusing the Internet, according to the 2007 Electronic Monitoring & Surveillance Survey from American Management Association (AMA) and The ePolicy Institute.

The 28% of employers who have fired workers for e-mail misuse did so for the following reasons: violation of any company policy (64%);inappropriate or offensive language (62%); excessive personal use （26%); breach of confidentiality rules (22%); other (12%).

Details…

2. 45% of big firms monitor workers

[CNN.com ,April 21, 1999,Web posted at: 11:28 a.m. EDT (1528 GMT),by Tom Diederich]

[Excerpt]

If you work at a major corporation, there's a 45% chance your employer is monitoring your e-mail, voice mail, computer files, phone calls or other work-related activities, according to a new report from the American Management Association (AMA).

In the most recent survey, when additional forms of eavesdropping are added to the equation -- including security cameras -- the percentage of companies engaged in electronic monitoring and surveillance climbs to 67% compared with 63% in 1997, the AMA said.

Most of the monitoring was performed as spot checks, and 84% of the companies that said they kept a close eye on their employees' activities let them know they're watching, the association added. Details…

 

3.Analysis: Insiders a major security threat

[CNN.com ,July 11, 2001 Posted: 8:32 a.m. EDT (1232 GMT) ,By Dan Verton ]

[Excerpt]

Within two months, Goldberg hired a half-dozen more software developers and tapped a CIO with 15 years of experience to take on the role of chief operating officer.

Trouble lurked beneath the surface, however. Two of the company's software developers approached ITTI's new COO and demanded that the company "pay them a lot of money or they will resign immediately and not provide any assistance to the development team.”

Faced with the equivalent of a cyberhijacking, he refused to budge, and the developers were dismissed.

The first denial-of-service attack hit the next morning, a Thursday, and crashed the company's application server…The situation soon became critical. "If the attacks continued to go on, we would go out of business," Goldberg says. He called in a security consulting firm and the Secret Service.Details…

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4. Analysis: Your PC could be watching you

[CNN.com ,November 15, 2000,Web posted at: 10:47 a.m. EST (1547 GMT)]

[Excerpt]

If you lie awake at night fretting about personal privacy and your computer, consider this: The biggest threat may not be the government or the operator of the Web site you visited late last night, but your business partner, your boss, or even your spouse.

Products for monitoring desktop computers have been around for years. But until recently they were primarily designed for and marketed to large businesses that worried about employee misuse of Internet access and the company e-mail system. Now, a new wave of low-cost, easy-to-use monitoring products is available to home and small-business users. Dubbed snoopware, these products do everything their large-scale corporate cousins can--and in some cases, even more. Details…

5. Battling workplace theft

[CNN.COM, August 19, 1999: 6:37 a.m. ET , By Staff Writer Nicole Jacoby]

[Excerpt]

A new study says you may be working in a den of thieves.

An overwhelming 79 percent of workers admit they have or would consider stealing from their employers, according to a survey released last week by forensic accounting firm Michael G. Kessler & Associates.

And the loot is far more sophisticated than mere pens and paper clips.

Computer software, office appliances and accounting books are all prime targets for would-be pilferers and grafters. Details…

6. Big Brother Is Watching

[CNN.com ,By MARIA CHENG]

[Excerpt]

Be warned — more and more companies are monitoring e-mail. And deleting messages won't stop the snoops

Employers worried about the Internet's propensity to distract their staff, insist that productivity, rather than privacy, is the paramount concern. Those suspicions are amply warranted. A Hong Kong survey by International Data Corp. found that employees with online access spend almost three hours a week sending personal e-mail and surfing the web at work.

Electronic surveillance, some believe, is the answer. "What people should get in their heads is that there's nothing private about e-mail on a company system," says Bob McAuley, managing director of security firm Kroll Asia. "We can find whatever goes on in someone's computer." Details…

7. 'Call Quality Practices 2008' Research Conducted During Early 2007 Sought to Better...

[Reuters.com,Mon Apr 7, 2008 9:00am EDT ]

[Excerpt]

This research report will deliver the results of our 5th annual research on call quality programs. Call quality monitoring is one of the most effective methods for improving the level of service you provide to your customers.

Not only can it improve the customer experience, it can also improve overall call center performance, reduce callbacks, focus training efforts, identify process improvement opportunities, and facilitate employee development.

Call quality monitoring refers to the process of listening to or observing an agent's phone conversations or other multi-media contacts with customers. Details…

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8. Caution: Big business is watching employees

[CNN.com ,By Kate Lorenz,CareerBuilder.com,Wednesday, February 9, 2005 Posted: 8:38 AM EST (1338 GMT) ]

[Excerpt]

Studies by the American Management Association (AMA) and ePolicy Institute found that three out of four major U.S. companies record and review employees' communication activities on the job -- including phone calls, e-mail, Internet connections and computer files.

If that's not enough to scare you, 25 percent of those surveyed said they had terminated an employee for inappropriate use of the company's e-mail system. Details…

9. Cyber-security enters boardroom

[CNN.com ,By Nick Easen for CNN，Wednesday, December 10, 2003 Posted: 8:02 AM EST (1302 GMT) ]

[Excerpt]

Firewalls, virus and spam protection are only part of the picture.

How to support an "always on" business environment, yet defend assets from cyber attack via the Internet, is now a major concern.

"If you have all your protection up-to-date it still doesn't allow you to answer questions such as are my customer financial records safe or are the designs for a new product protected from competitors," says Parenty. Details…

10. Cyberveillance at work

[CNN.com ,January 4, 2000: 8:28 a.m. ET ,By Staff Writer Michele Masterson ]

[Excerpt]

Experts say employees who surf the Web from their office PCs are costing Corporate America more than $1 billion a year. And some companies are starting to crack down.

Most workers don’t like to think about it, but in the age of the Internet and advances in technology, chances are someone at work is watching where you spend your online time. And if these sites are unrelated to your business or violate your company’s Internet policy, it could cost you your job. Details…

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11. Dow fires more employees over inappropriate e-mails

[CNN.com, September 19, 2000 ,Web posted at: 9:19 a.m. EDT (1319 GMT) ,by Todd R. Weiss]

[Excerpt]

For the second time since July, Dow Chemical Co. has fired a group of workers and reprimanded others after the employees allegedly violated the company's policies against pornographic e-mails.

Eric Grates, a spokesman for the Midland, Mich.-based company, said 24 workers at a manufacturing plant in Freeport, Texas, have been fired and another 230 have been disciplined in the latest incident. Dow last month warned it would dismiss up to 40 people at the Texas facility in the wake of employee complaints about inappropriate e-mail usage.

The punishments that resulted from the company's investigation at the plant were set depending on what individual employees sent to others via the corporate e-mail system, Grates said. He added that the content included in messages "was sexually explicit as well as some violent images." Details…

12. Employee study cites rampant Internet abuse

[CNN.com ,April 20, 2000,Web posted at: 9:59 a.m. EDT (1359 GMT),by Carolyn Duffy Marsan]

[Excerpt]

More employees are checking their stock prices, shopping for travel bargains and exchanging personal e-mail via the Internet while at work - even though their companies prohibit these activities, according to a recently released study.

Commissioned by Elron Software of Burlington, Mass., which provides Internet access and e-mail content filtering software, the study found a significant increase in the number of companies with Web and e-mail usage policies. But the study also found that despite these policies, employees' personal use of corporate network resources is rising.Details…

13. Employer e-snooping measure nears vote

[CNN.com ,September 13, 2000,Web posted at: 9:41 a.m. EDT (1341 GMT),by Patrick Thibodeau]

[Excerpt]

The bills, which Schumer and two other legislators filed in July in their respective chambers, wouldn't stop companies from monitoring their employees' communications. But employers would be required to notify workers of any monitoring of telephone, e-mail or Internet use as well as general tracking of computer keystrokes.

Letting employees know that they could be watched can help to prevent inappropriate e-mail or Internet usage, LePage noted. "If you know you're being monitored to begin with, your behavior is already modified," he said.Details…

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14. Ex-State Dept. Employee admits passport snooping

[Reuters.com,Mon Sep 22,2008 1:50pm, EDT]

[Excerpt]

A former U.S. State Department employee pleaded guilty on Monday to illegally snooping on about 200 confidential passport files of politicians, celebrities and others, the Justice Department said.

Yontz admitted that between February 2005 and March 2008 he viewed passport applications of about 200 celebrities, athletes, actors, politicians and their immediate families, musicians, game show contestants, members of the news media, prominent business professionals, colleagues and neighbors. Details…

15. Ex-Wal-Mart worker admits to spy campaign

[CNN.com ,April 4 2007: 11:18 AM EDT ]

[Excerpt]

A former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. worker said he was part of a large surveillance operation that included snooping on employees, stockholders and others, according to a Wall Street Journal report Wednesday.

Security worker Bruce Gabbard was fired last month after 19 years with the company for intercepting a reporter's phone calls, the paper said.

Gabbard said he recorded the calls because he felt pressured to stop embarrassing leaks. But he said his spying activities were sanctioned by superiors.

Gabbard said that as part of the surveillance, the retailer infiltrated an anti-Wal-Mart group to determine if it planned protests at the company's annual meeting last year and deployed monitoring systems to record the actions of anyone connected to its global computer network. Detials…

16. Foreign Affairs Committee to Investigate Passport Snooping Case

[Reuters.com,Fri Mar 21, 2008 2:39pm EDT ]

[Excerpt]

Congressman Howard L. Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, today issued the following statement about the revelation that State Department employees had improperly accessed the passport files of current presidential candidates:

"It is unacceptable for a government employee to invade the privacy of any individual. We must guard against government abuse of power, whether for political or other purposes. Details…

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17. Ford eyeing bathroom breaks

[CNN.com,October 27, 2005: 11:32 AM EDT ]

[Excerpt]

The Detroit News reported Thursday that management at the company's Michigan Truck plant in Wayne, Mich., issued a memo in which it said too many of the factory's 3,500 hourly workers are spending more than the 48 minutes allotted per shift to use the bathroom.

The extra-long breaks are slowing production of the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator sport utility vehicles that are built there, the company said.

"In today's competitive environment, it is important that Michigan Truck plant immediately address this concern to avoid the risks associated with safety, quality, delivery, cost and morale," the memo said, according to the paper's report. Details…

18. Fired Wal-Mart worker claims surveillance ops: report

[Reuters.com,Wed Apr 4, 2007 2:51am EDT]

[Excerpt]

The Wal-Mart Stores Inc. worker fired last month for intercepting a reporter's phone calls says he was part of a larger, sophisticated surveillance operation that included snooping not only on employees, but also on critics, stockholders and the consulting firm McKinsey & Co., The Wall Street Journal reported.

As part of the surveillance, the retailer last year had a long-haired employee infiltrate an anti-Wal-Mart group to determine if it planned protests at the company's annual meeting, according to Bruce Gabbard, the fired security worker, the Journal said.

The company also deployed cutting-edge monitoring systems made by a supplier to the Defense Department that allowed it to capture and record the actions of anyone connected to its global computer network, the Journal said. Details…

19. Germans urge tougher laws after new privacy scandal

[Reuters.com,Tue Aug 19, 2008 2:58pm BST]

[Excerpt]

German politicians called for tougher privacy laws on Tuesday after officials revealed personal and financial information on millions of Germans was readily available for cash on the Internet.

The scandal over the illegal trading of bank account and phone data came just months after snooping cases at some major German corporations raised alarms.

"The data scandals unfortunately highlight how urgent this issue is," said parliamentarian Sebastian Edathy from the Social Democrats (SPD), who share power with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU).Details…

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20. Inside jobs: Is there a hacker in the next cubicle?

[CNN.COM, August 13, 1998 ,Web posted at: 3:45 PM EDT ,by Jonathan Littman]

[Excerpt]

Just after midnight on January 28, 1998, the e-mail blasted its way to the 400-plus employees of Pixar Animation. It listed the salary of every Pixar employee, from secretaries to executives. Indeed, the only person whose salary was not on the list was the man who seemingly sent the message: CEO Steve Jobs doesn't draw a paycheck.

Pixar, the high-tech company in Richmond, California, responsible for the movie Toy Story, had been hacked. Someone -- not Jobs -- had sent the message using Jobs' return e-mail address (a common trick known as "spoofing"). More seriously, that same person had broken into the company's confidential personnel files. Pixar's managers quickly dispatched a second e-mail, denying that Jobs had sent the first. But the damage was done: The privacy of Pixar's employees had been violated, and they now knew that confidential data critical to their careers could be exposed for all of Pixar's competitors to see. Details…