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In today's business environment, it's difficult to imagine a workplace without access to the Web. Yet, much of the information available to employees on the Internet is not job related. What started as a productivity boon has gradually turned into a bandwidth and productivity drain with huge potential legal liabilities associated with inappropriate use of the Internet by employees. Huge lawsuits have resulted from employees downloading pornographic, racist or violent material from the Internet. In addition, network security can be compromised by the introduction of viruses, worms or Trojans through your Internet access.
It seems the old threat that plagued HTTP traffic, inappropriate content, is no longer the only concern for IT administrators. In addition to worms and viruses, your Internet access is a gateway for all sorts of other threats such as spyware, malware, phishing and pharming. These unwanted programs are propagating at a rapid rate. Even if you manage to stop one threat, new ones are cropping up daily, to take its place.
In response, organizations have sought ways to proactively control Web access, driving the development of a variety of Web filtering methodologies. However, the emergence and growth of new Internet content, combined with the need for simple network installation and straightforward ways to effectively manage large user communities, has made most of these alternatives too cumbersome to employ in a corporate environment. And without the ability to control the invasion of spyware and malware, filtering objectionable content alone won't protect your organization.
This eBook attempts to present some of the growing threats that exploit your organization's Internet access and to demonstrate how a dedicated appliance solution like iPrism can secure your network and prevent the downtime, loss of productivity and other problems associated with unmanaged Internet access.
Spyware began as and continues to be a controversial subject. Companies such as Weatherbug prefer the term adware and are averse to any portrayal of their agents as malicious intruders. They consider their business practices to be legitimate and another form of marketing. But one thing they cannot argue with is that spyware is widespread and it's growing.
Works like a Mole
According to a recent article in Security Pipeline, "In the world of espionage, spyware is closest to a mole. A mole will avoid any activity that might blow his cover; similarly, spyware applications are often content to hide on your system." That's one way to distinguish them - they are usually not intentionally downloaded and they hide, often residing secretly as just another data link library (DLL) file or registry setting.
Remediation is Difficult
The main difference between viruses and spyware is money. Spyware is driven by profits whereas viruses are usually driven by rogue programmers looking to make a name for themselves. And unlike viruses, which can make their presence known by interfering with computer performance or even damaging your network, spyware embeds itself deep within critical components of your operating system. There it can use up memory with it's host of executables that monitor activities and collect data. Although viruses are dangerous, their overt activities are easier to spot and repair. Because spyware is so covert, it can remain on workstations for a long time and be difficult to remediate.
Perimeter Protection is Best
Clearly, the most effective solution is one that stops spyware and malware at the perimeter, before they can embed themselves deeply within your network. One way to achieve this perimeter protection is with an Internet filter that identifies and stops spyware sites at the perimeter, before they have a chance to infect your internal servers.
iPrism from St. Bernard Sofware offers perimeter protection to block sites known to carry spyware, malware and phishing. The iPrism exclusive iGuard" 100% human reviewed database includes a category that stops these pernicious programs from ever reaching your networks. And the iGuard team analysts work continually adding new sites to the database. Your iPrism is automatically updated every day, making it easy to stay ahead of the constant spyware, malware and phishing exploits.
Among the most ominous threats facing online users today are fraudulent sites built to appear as real e-commerce websites.
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