Spyware means companies may be making themselves vulnerable to unknown outside parties such as competitors, hackers or advertisers, who can gather confidential company information without consent, the company said. Websense maintains it can identify spyware makers’ data collection servers due to the WebCatcher feature in its gateway, which sends the addresses of uncategorized web servers back to Websense when employees access them.
The rise of peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing and the emergence of instant messaging are also creating new concerns over the integrity of existing enterprise security regimes. The number of P2P file sharing web pages has increased three-fold in the last 12 months, and runs to more than 89,000 web pages. There are now more than 130 unique P2P applications and yet very few businesses have internet policies in place that will include guidelines for this emerging security threat.
Personal web surfing, software downloads and web-based email featured as top concerns for over 400 IT professionals across Europe surveyed in the independent survey conducted by Websense. Some 72% of those surveyed believe P2P creates an open door to hackers, while 62% believe that instant messaging can expose their companies to viruses.
Source: Computerwire
