Raja Azam suggests monitoring the end point, or point of use

Loss of office productivity due to irresponsible use of IT is a worrying trend. But there’s a solution in sight, discovers ROZANA SANIAHMAD sighs as he stares at his notebook computer screen in the office. He’s trying to finish a sales report, but all he could think about in the past hour was the many family gatherings he would attend during Raya. 
“Hmm... what shall I wear? Will Suzie — the cute friend of his cousin — be there?” he thought to himself. He logged onto Facebook to scour his cousin’s photo albums for the latest photos of Suzie. Then he requested to be her Facebook friend. His request was accepted and the two chatted online right through morning, while his sales report remained undone.

What transpired between Ahmad and Suzie, apparently, is a normal occurrence in many corporate organisations today. “The irresponsible use of IT is infiltrating offices and homes at an alarming speed. Though some may find the issue petty, it can cost businesses dearly through loss of productivity,” says Matrix Open Solutions Sdn Bhd managing director Raja Azam Baiezah Raja Mokhtar. 
To address the issue, some have opted to block offensive sites and keyword searches. But that isn’t effective.

“Blocking URLs depends on subscribing to an ever-updating list which, by definition, becomes out of date as thousands of offensive sites are added to the web every week. Blocking keyword searched, meanwhile, tends to reduce research all together as there’s no context to search, for example, a researcher looking for information on ’breast cancer awareness’ could be blocked because of the word ’breast’,” explains Raja Azam. 
What about having safe zones, which allow users to visit only sites included in a white list? “The number of sites that can pre-vetted for content is small compared to the websites on the web, so it’s not an effective strategy,” says Raja Azam. 
“Some suggest filtering the gateway. But to have the contents of each message entering the network screened may result in a bottleneck and near standstill of the entire network.”

Raja Azam thinks monitoring the end point, or point of use, is the best way to counter irresponsible use of IT. 
Enter e-Safe Prism, which detects and blocks irresponsible use of IT on PCs regardless of the originating source (email, CD, DVD or peer-to-peer communications). 
Raja Azam says using e-Safe Prism won’t lead to accusations of imposed censorship. In fact, it’s a user-centric approach that assumes the threat will get through the wall and it relies on catching and teaching the IT abuser. 
“Identifying problems at the point of occurrence means it doesn’t matter whether the IT abuser is within or outside the organisation, how the threat is transmitted (internet, USB or DVD), or whether the transmission is encrypted. 

It identifies the user if he is within the organisation as the analysis is at the client, and this gives good scalability.” 
The British-based solution has three core detection engines: text analysis, image analysis and webpage analysis. Its features include website monitoring, warning mode, block mode, chat monitoring, document and communication monitoring, and document and key stroke monitoring. 
There’s also offline pornography monitoring, USB monitoring and management, and productivity monitoring. 
“The solution monitors all sources for inappropriate content and secures data — online sources (whether network or personal), offline sources (documents, images) — as well as provides auditing of IT assets. It’s an ideal deterrent to prevent infringement on companies’ Acceptable Use Policies on an ongoing basis,” says Raja Azam. 
This way, companies will have improved information security at end-user machines and better productivity. “And there will be better use of hardware, software and network,” says Raja Azam with a smile. 

Matrix Open Solutions is the local distributor of e-Safe Prism.