Network Monitoring Research Resources

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

Index of Employee Monitoring Related Resources

• 1. IT shops balance security, privacy
• 2. It's Time to Start Trusting the Workforce
• 3. Is your boss spying on you?
• 4. Monitoring e-mail: Management or thought police?
• 5. Monitoring employees: Eyes in the workplace
• 6. Poll: Office a hotspot for sex surfing
• 7. Sexy e-mail explodes into controversy
• 8. Security Survey Reveals Exiting Employees Have the Power
• 9. Study: Monitoring of employee e-mail escalates
• 10. Survey Reveals Scandal of Snooping IT Staff
• 11. The Great Date Heist
• 12. The legal traps of e-mail
• 13. Tighter rules on workplace snooping
• 14. Time Warner employee data missing
• 15. Too many e-traders surfing at work
• 16. U. K. e-mail snooping bill passed
• 17. UK eyeing Internet privacy protections for workers
• 18. U. K. snoop law may conflict with EU Human Rights Act
• 19. Viruses boost 'Big Brother' software
• 20. Wal-Mart says has strengthened security protocols

1. IT shops balance security, privacy

[CNN.com ,February 27, 2002 Posted: 8:36 a.m. EST (1336 GMT) ]

[Excerpt]

The threat of terrorist attacks against corporate America has forced IT departments to try to figure out how to protect employee privacy when implementing new security technologies.

Companies can be held liable if employees' personal information isn't adequately safeguarded, experts warn. So security technology and service providers are increasingly being called upon to educate their clients about privacy issues when those clients set out to enhance their employee authentication and monitoring procedures. Details…

2. It's Time to Start Trusting the Workforce

[CNN.com ,By Jeffrey Pfeffer, Business 2.0 Magazine columnist,March 15 2007: 12:36 PM EDT ]

[Excerpt]

According to a 2005 American Management Association survey of employers, 76 percent monitor workers' website connections and 55 percent retain and review e-mail messages. Since 2001 the portion of employers monitoring employee telephone use, which includes tracking the amount of time spent on the phone as well as the specific numbers called, has jumped from 9 percent to 51 percent. Testing workers for drug use has become routine.

In effect, employees now completely surrender their privacy if they want a paycheck. Details…

 

3. Is your boss spying on you?

[CNN.com ,By Kate Lorenz,CareerBuilder.com Editor,Friday, March 24, 2006 Posted: 1245 GMT (2045 HKT)]

[Excerpt]

According to a 2005 survey by the American Management Association (AMA), U.S. firms continue to record and review employee communications and activities on the job. This includes checking employee phone calls, e-mail messages, Internet connections and computer files.

Most observation takes place because of increased technology available to employees, such as e-mail and advanced online capabilities. Seventy-six percent of businesses monitor employee Web use and 55 percent keep and review e-mail messages.

But companies are not just watching employees online. More than 51 percent of companies said they participate in video surveillance for security purposes. Thirty-one percent monitor employees' outgoing phone numbers. And if you use a key card to access your job, you work for one of the 53 percent of companies that use them. Details…

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4. Monitoring e-mail: Management or thought police?

[CNN.com ,February 27, 2001,Web posted at: 10:26 a.m. EST (1526 GMT),by Sacha Cohen]

[Excerpt]

Indeed, the numbers demonstrate that surfing the Web at work has become as popular as gossiping by the watercooler. Computer Economics (CE), a Carlsbad, Calif.-based research firm, estimates that companies lost $5.3 billion to recreational Web surfing in 1999. "The illegitimate use of the Web and the personal use of e-mail by employees have become commonplace. When the boss is not around, improper use of the Web is normal," says Michael Erbschloe, vice president of research at CE.

Partly out of necessity and partly as a preventative measure, two-thirds of major American firms now do some type of in-house electronic surveillance, and 27 percent of all firms surveyed monitor e-mail, the American Management Association reported in April 2000. Details…

5. Monitoring employees: Eyes in the workplace

[CNN.com ,January 2, 2001，Web posted at: 5:56 PM EST (2256 GMT) ]

[Excerpt]

A recent survey of employers indicates that a majority of them are watching employees' activity on the Internet at work. A near-omniscient eye -- and usually an electronic one -- may well be looking your way right now.

The study of human-resources professionals at 722 companies, found 74 percent saying they monitor workers' Internet use at work; 72 percent said they check on employees' e-mail; 51 percent said they review phone calls. The workplace privacy survey was conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), with West Group. Details…

6. Poll: Office a hotspot for sex surfing

[CNN.com ,Nick Easen for CNN,Friday, February 13, 2004 Posted: 3:31 AM EST (0831 GMT) ]

[Excerpt]

Close to one in four U.S. employees use workplace computers to engage in sexually explicit activity, from logging on to X-rated Web sites to swapping passionate messages in chatrooms, according to a study.

At the same time, nearly half of those surveyed believe this abuse is hurting office productivity, according to the "America at Work" survey commissioned by the Employment Law Alliance (ELA).

"This poll sheds new light on the number of employees who are misusing workplace computers for romantic or sexual purposes," Charles Huddleston, of law firm Arnall Golden Gregory, told Reuters news agency. Details…

7. Sexy e-mail explodes into controversy

[CNN.com, December 20, 2000, Web posted at: 8:45 AM EST (1345 GMT)]

[Excerpt]

It began as an off-color e-mail from a woman to a lover, then exploded across the Internet, onto newspaper front pages and into a disciplinary hearing against five lawyers.

……

"Little did we know that a salacious e-mail about oral sex would provoke the debate so early in the day," said Bill Thompson, an Internet consultant who has written critiques of Britain's recently enacted Regulation of Investigatory Powers act.

The act gives employers the right to monitor employees' phone calls, search their computers and check who they are calling on company mobile phones. That law could conflict with the Data Protection Act of 1998, which gives some guarantees of privacy, and the European Convention on Human Rights, which gives people freedom of expression, he said.

Many companies have purchased software to identify sexually explicit or proprietary material as it passes through an e-mail. Details…

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8. Security Survey Reveals Exiting Employees Have the Power

[Reuters.com,Wed Aug 27, 2008 4:52pm EDT]

[Excerpt]

Exercise extreme caution when it comes to dismissing employees with knowledge of your IT systems - that's the stark warning from privileged identity management specialist company Cyber-Ark Software.

Its annual survey around "Trust, Security & Passwords" focused on 300 IT security professionals and revealed that 88 percent of IT administrators, if laid off tomorrow, would take valuable and sensitive company information with them. The target information includes the CEO's passwords, the customer database, R & D plans, financial reports, M & A plans, and most importantly the company's list of privileged passwords. Only 12 percent revealed that they would plan to leave empty handed. Details…

9. Study: Monitoring of employee e-mail escalates

[CNN.com,July 9, 2001 Posted: 1:45 p.m. EDT (1745 GMT)

[Excerpt]

Worldwide, the number of employees under such surveillance is about 27 million, the study reports.

The availability of inexpensive technology is driving the growth of employee monitoring, according to Andrew Schulman, the Privacy Foundation's chief researcher.

Within the past few years, employee monitoring, as measured by the sales of surveillance software, has increased at least twice as fast as the number of U.S. employees with Internet access, according to the study. Worldwide sales of employee-monitoring software are estimated at $140 million a year, or about $5.25 per monitored employee per year, the foundation said. Details…

10. Survey Reveals Scandal of Snooping IT Staff

[euters.com,Thu Jun 19, 2008 3:00pm EDT]

[Excerpt]

Whilst you sit there innocently working away, little do you realize that a third of your IT colleagues have been snooping around the network, looking at highly confidential information, such as salary details, M & A plans, people's personal emails, board meeting minutes and other personal information.

That's the findings of a survey released today by Cyber-Ark(R) Software, specialists in privileged identity management and digital vaulting solutions, who carried out the research at the recent Infosecurity Expo 2008, amongst 300 senior IT professionals (mainly from companies employing over 1000+ employees), as part of their annual survey into "Trust, Security and Passwords".

One third of the survey sampled admitted to using their privileged rights to access information that is confidential or sensitive by using the administrative passwords as a means of peeking at information that they are not privy to. Details…

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11. The Great Date Heist

[CNN.COM, By Daniel Roth, May 16, 2005]

[Excerpt]

Why can't corporations keep their customers' personal data secure? Inside the world of identity theft.

Corporate America is finally owning up to a long-held secret: It can't safeguard some of its most valuable data. Over the past few years, cheaper database software and storage devices have made it much easier for companies to gather and save private information about their customers, presenting a tempting (and surprisingly easy) target for identity thieves looking to do one-stop stealing and giving companies numerous ways to screw up security.

A recent survey by the FBI and Computer Security Institute found that between 2000 and 2003 (the latest data available), about 40% of all companies confronted an attempted information snatch each year. Details…

12. The legal traps of e-mail

[CNN.com ,July 6, 1999,Web posted at: 4:08 p.m. EDT (2008 GMT),by Margaret Steen]

[Excerpt]

To protect themselves against a host of legal problems, experts say, companies need clear policies on e-mail use. The policies should cover everything from how long to keep old messages to who can read other people's messages -- and IT managers need to be part of the team that creates and enforces them.

The legal issues raised by e-mail are not new ones. What is new is determining how old laws apply to e-mail -- and educating employees about the subject.

"People say the most incredible things on e-mail," says Jim Bruce, a partner at the law firm of Wiley Rein & Fielding, in Washington. "The power of e-mail is in a sense its own downfall, because it's so easy to transmit and collect." Details…

13. Tighter rules on workplace snooping

[BBC.com, By Mark Ward ,BBC News Online technology correspondent]

[Excerpt]

E-mail and net access are now key to day-to-day running of many businesses.

Many companies are monitoring what staff do with them to filter out viruses, spam and to monitor customer service.

Financial service companies tend to monitor staff communication to help them comply with industry regulations.

But the Information Commissioner is warning that companies cannot trample over rights to privacy or ignore data protection rules when monitoring e-mail and net use. Details…

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14. Time Warner employee data missing

[CNN.com ,May 3, 2005: 9:08 AM EDT]

[Excerpt]

Time Warner Inc. said Monday that data on 600,000 current and former employees stored on computer backup tapes was lost by an outside storage company and that the Secret Service is now investigating.

Kathy McKiernan, a spokeswoman for Time Warner(down $0.01 to $16.80, Research), told CNN that the tapes contained names and Social Security information on current and former Time Warner employees and some of their dependents and beneficiaries dating back to 1986.

The tapes may include information on employees of Time Warner and any of its affiliated companies between 1986 and the present. Time Warner, the world's largest media company, owns AOL, Time magazine, CNN/Money and other properties. Details…

15. Too many e-traders surfing at work

[CNN.com ,July 7, 1999,Web posted at: 10:59 a.m. EDT (1459 GMT),by Stacy Collett]

[Excerpt]

Pornography, check. Online auctions, check. Sports sites, check. MIS director Jeff LePage thought his company's network was insulated from the Internet sites that typically lure employees away from their work.

Those activities are policed and in some cases blocked with monitoring software because the company policy at American Fast Freight Inc. in Seattle clearly states that any online activity "not specifically and exclusively work related" is prohibited.

So imagine LePage's surprise when a new culprit emerged: He recently discovered that one employee had visited a stock-monitoring Web site 186 times during a 12-day period. "We've been bitten" by the online investing bug, LePage said. He isn't alone. Detials…

16. U. K. e-mail snooping bill passed

[CNN.com ,July 28, 2000，Web posted at: 10:34 a.m. EDT (1434 GMT)，by Laura Rohde]

[Excerpt]

The surveillance bill granting the U. K. government sweeping powers to access e-mail and other encrypted Internet communications passed its final vote in the House of Commons on Wednesday and is set to become law on October 5.

Among other provisions, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) bill requires ISPs (Internet service providers) in the U.K. to track all data traffic passing through their computers and route it to the Government Technical Assistance Center (GTAC). The GTAC is being established in the London headquarters of the U.K. security service, MI5 -- the equivalent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the U.S.

The House of Commons, which had already passed the RIP bill earlier in the year, voted to approve amendments added by the House of Lords on July 13. Mainly as a formality, the bill must now be signed by the Queen to receive its official passage into law with what is known as the Royal Assent. Details…

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17. UK eyeing Internet privacy protections for workers

[CNN.com ,April 16, 2002 Posted: 8:39 a.m. EDT (1239 GMT),By Patrick Thibodeau]

[Excerpt]

Businesses in the UK, including U.S. firms with branch offices there, may soon face limits on their ability to monitor employee Web surfing and e-mail activity under a new privacy code due to be released by a government body in the next two months.

The UK privacy protections also illustrate the sharp difference in privacy approaches that exist between the U.S. and European nations, many of which have stringent privacy rules.

The code, which sets out workplace privacy rights, will call for employers to spell out their monitoring policies to employees and conduct monitoring that is "proportionate" to the risk posed by the employee activity. Details…

18. U.K. snoop law may conflict with EU Human Rights Act

[CNN.com ,October 5, 2000,Web posted at: 11:13 a.m. EDT (1513 GMT),by Laura Rohde]

[Excerpt]

Trade unions are concerned that portions of the new surveillance bill granting the U.K. government sweeping powers to access e-mail and other encrypted Internet communications may be in conflict with the Human Rights Act, both of which became U.K. law on Monday, Oct. 2.

"The bulk of the Act came into effect at the same time as the Human Rights Act, in part because we were making sure RIPA was completely compliant with the Human Rights Act," said a Home Office spokesman.

For example, beginning Oct. 24, companies can have "routine access" to tap phone calls or open e-mails sent by their employees without the employee's knowledge or consent, according to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the government agency overseeing that particular aspect of RIPA. Details…

19. Viruses boost 'Big Brother' software

[CNN.com ,By Nick Easen for CNN,Monday, September 1, 2003 Posted: 9:38 AM EDT (1338 GMT) ]

[Excerpt]

Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and other IT executives are also increasingly focusing on the threat to office systems posed by staff.

"Monitoring can only rise as management realize the danger of internal threats, such as employee misconduct," Uantchern Loh, of Ernst & Young Labs for Internet & Security, told CNN.

"In the future it will definitely get smarter, with the development of cheaper artificial intelligent tools and more analyses on employees," adds Loh.

So what are the barriers to the use of the software? According to Ernst and Young's global information security survey of 1,400 organizations in 66 countries, a high percentage cited insufficient funds as the number one obstacle. Details…

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20. Wal-Mart says has strengthened security protocols

[Reuters.com,Wed Apr 4, 2007 4:02pm EDT]

[Excerpt]

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research,Stock Buzz) defended its security operations on Wednesday and said it had strengthened its "practices and protocols" since firing two workers last month for making what it said were unauthorized recordings of telephone calls.

But the world's largest retailer declined to comment on the specific allegations made by fired worker Bruce Gabbard, who told the Wall Street Journal he was part of a surveillance operation that included snooping on Wal-Mart critics, stockholders and the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. 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…

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