Who's Watching You?
By Bob Boyles, Principal
Smarter Distribution

Its 4:45 on Friday afternoon and the boss left early for a round of golf leaving you at the office to answer the phones. You decide to kill some time by playing one of those internet card games. There's a free site your son told you about where you can play hearts or poker against others on-line. Time passes quickly and you're out of the office at 5:00:01. You arrive back at your desk Monday morning only to find your computer screen clogged with relentless popup ads. You can kill the ads and even run the un-install routine but they still keep popping up. Over the next week you notice your computer running slower and slower. You call the company computer guru, after a few questions you confess that you have visited a few questionable sites on the internet. Then the truth hits you like a ton of bricks, he tells you that you're the victim of ad-ware and undoubtedly spy-ware! He tells you that many of these "free" game sites exist for the sole purpose of installing ad-ware and spy-ware on your computer. Then he gives you the really bad news. The only way that he knows of to completely rid your PC of these virus like programs is to wipe out the hard drive and re-install everything.

Costs

Small companies, like many distributors, are typically lax on establishing and enforcing computer policies. This can sometimes lead to disastrous consequences. What are some of the costs for lax PC management? Just the lost productivity spent fighting viruses are incredible in this country. Not to mention the money spent replacing infested and crippled machines. While I have not run across any distributors that have been victims of spyware where they've lost competitive information it wouldn't surprise if those stories were out there.

Prevention

There are a number of simple steps you can take to protect your company from experiencing these problems. Very basic protection is available free on the web. You can download anti-virus programs such as AVG. (Businesses should be careful and read their policies about commercial use.) However, I haven't run across any of the free programs that offer an acceptable level of protection. For commercial operations you're going to need to purchase robust protect programs.

One of the most important areas of protection these days are programs that will scan your in-bound email and delete embedded viruses. Not a day goes by that the Norton Anti-Virus programs loaded onto my computer don't intercept a corrupt email and delete before it can infest my machine.

PC Use Statement

Beyond virus protection and email scanning the next step in protecting yourself is an active policy for how your computer assets are going to be used. The best first step that you can take is create is to create a "PC Use Statement" that will limit programs that can be loaded onto the company's PCs. Some of the programs that you would want to eliminate are the file sharing programs such as KaZaA. The most popular file sharing program after the demise of Napster, KaZaA not only enable illegal downloads of copyrighted material but also installs tracking software onto your computer. KaZaA for example installs it's own version of spyware that tracks the webs sites you visit and directs banner ads and pop-ups based upon your web surfing history.

The second part of your PC Use Statement will be that no programs will be installed on the users' computers that were not purchased by the company. It needs to be clear that your company will not tolerate individuals loading stolen software on the company's computers. Perhaps you've heard of the Business Software Alliance. This organization formed by a number of large software companies exist to find and prosecute companies that use stolen software. What may surprise you is that their number one source of who is stealing software is ex-employees turning their former employers in for illegal software use! Someone at your company should regularly review the programs loaded on all of the company's computers to enforce the ban on stolen or illegal software.

Email Use Statement

We would like to think that all of our employees will act in a professional manner but the reality is that many will not when it comes to email usage.
The simple act of forwarding emails containing what may seem like a harmless joke can create real headaches. How many of you remember the email from a while back about "Why Beer Is Better Than Women"? You probably laughed and passed it along to a co-worker for friend at another company. That email cost Chevron $2.2 million! They were sued for sexual harassment and settled out of court!

While an email use statement may not have changed the employees behavior it can set the stage for what is acceptable as employees use email. In your Email Use Statement make it clear that the company owns the email system and that all emails are the property of the company and that email should strictly used for business purposes only.

Web Use Statement

If given the choice would you willingly open your company’s front door to thieves from around the world to view your most private computer documents? Would you give your employees access to limitless supply of material that could encourage a lawsuit against you? Would you willingly open your most valuable assets to damage to anyone in the world? You are doing all of these things by having unfettered access to the World Wide Web.

You should create a "Web Use Statement". One of the first things that should be in your Web Use Statement is a commitment that the user will use the internet for company business only. It should be clear that visiting porn sites on company computers is grounds for dismissal. The number of companies that have been sued for sexual harassment because of employees misuse of internet resources are astounding!

Summary

These three written pieces of policy should be part of your employee manuals. Employees should indicate by their signature that they have read and understood the consequences of violating the company's policy on using their computers for business use only.

Personal computers have become second nature for everyone in business. Gone are the good-old days when you could write-off poor decision in how employees use their computers as an indiscretion. In today's legal environment companies of every size must make sure that their assets are used as intended.

About Bob Boyles and Smarter Distribution:
Bob Boyles is the President of Smarter Distribution in Coppell, Texas, a strategic coaching business focusing on assisting distributors in using technology. He is also the author of "Succeeding With Distribution Technology" a practical how-to guide for selecting and implementing the right technology. You may reach him at (972) 304-1180, via e-mail at bob@smarterdistribution.com or on the Web at www.smarterdistribution.com

© Copyright 2003, Robert S. Boyles Jr. All rights reserved. This article cannot be reprinted or reproduced in whole or in part, without the express written permission of Robert S. Boyles Jr.