[ news_security_news ]
The Bigger Threat: Surfing Or Spam?
Doug Caverly
Staff Writer
2006-09-18
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
E-mail attachments may not be that dangerous, at least in comparison to surfing the Web, according to a recent study conducted in Denmark. IDC Denmark found that company networks were more likely to be infected by malicious software through surfing, not spam.
Per Andersen, IDC Denmark's managing director, commented on the findings in a statement. "There is a common misconception that e-mails constitute the biggest security threat from the Internet," he said. "But the survey shows that up to 30 percent of companies with 500 or more staff have been infected as a result of Internet surfing, while only 20 to 25 percent of the same companies experienced viruses and worms from e-mails."
Those figures could be on the conservative side - CNET's Matthew Broersma reported that "the risk of infection is about five times greater for companies that allow Internet usage by staff to go on unhindered and unmonitored."
And yet, "the problem doesn't go away for companies that ban private Internet use, because often such policies aren't enforced, IDC found: About 30 percent of managers at such companies said staff accessed the Internet for personal use during working hours."
IDC, according to Broersma, suggested a way to help resolve to this security issue - "as a long-term solution . . . the research firm recommends closer monitoring of employees' Internet use and using tools that give management an overview of time spent and behavior patterns online."
This solution needn't infringe on anyone's privacy. "It can certainly be done in such a way that it does not constitute outright monitoring of the actions of every member of staff," Andersen said.
Tag: Malicious software
Add to  Del.icio.us |  Digg |  Yahoo! My Web |  Furl
Get all the updates in RSS: 
About the Author:
Doug is a staff writer for SecurityProNews, InternetFinancialNews, SearchNewz, and WebProNews.
More news_security_news Articles
Insider Reports RSS Feed
|
|
iEntry 10th Anniversary
RSS
Archive
