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Information Security Pornography If you supply your employees with a computer and Internet access, and they use that equipment view pornography at work, and another employees see it – are you liable? The answer is yes, you most are certainly liable unless you have taken reasonable measures to protect employees from pornography. Even if litigation is not an issue, pornography can steal employee productivity and pornographic web sites are often a source of spyware, malware and viruses. Presented below is a list of possible measures you should take in your organization to block pornography. 1. Written Policy – Provide all employees with a written policy explaining that the accessing or viewing pornography with company computers, company e‐mail or during company hours or during company activities is forbidden. This provides notice. (See the chapter on documents for an example.) 2. Signed Agreement – Ask employees to sign a contract in which they agree not to access or view pornography using company computers, company e‐amil or during company hours or during company activities. This may help shield you from liability. (See the chapter on documents for an example.) 3. Require Safe Searches Only – Most search tools such as Google, Yahoo! And MSN provide an option which filters 99.99% of all pornography from the search results. You should require your employees to always leave the safe Search setting to on. 4. Plain View – You might require all employees to always work in plain view of others with doors opened and computer screens visible to passerby’s as a deterrent, unless conducting a confidential meeting. 5. Use A Router Based Content Filter – Consider using a router based content filter to block pornography. For example, the ContentProtect Security Appliance monitors everything going in and out on a real time basis. Features include: a.
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Dynamic Content Filtering: Identifies and blocks objectionable web material. Bandwidth Management: Monitors bandwidth usage to ensure good performance. Spyware: Tracks spyware to see who’s catching it, and neutralizes the threat. Slow Internet: Discover the problem, down to the individual user. Bandwidth Abuse: See who’s hogging it, and what they’re using it for. Web Activity: See who’s visiting what sites when, and what they’re doing on them. Peer‐to‐Peer: Find out what P2P apps are doing to your network. Instant Messaging: Know who’s talking, and what they’re saying. Viruses: Prevent viruses, including those in web‐based emails. Anonymous Proxies: Prevent users from bypassing your filters and safeguards 90