According to IDC Research, organizations lose up to US$3,000 (RM11,400) per year per employee due to non-business related Internet activity. IDC market data also shows that 30 to 40 per cent of lost worker productivity can be attributed to cyberloafing.

Being aware of the need to control employees’ usage of the Internet, some companies have resorted to implementing Internet acceptable usage policies (AUP).

An Internet AUP is a guideline on both acceptable and unacceptable Internet usages, with the aim of restricting employees’ behaviours and actions which can lead to the incidence of organisations’ Internet risks. Such policy, while having its plus points, has been argued to be ineffective as a single Internet security management measure.

A more severe measure taken by some companies is to cut off Internet access and e-mails altogether. However, experts say this approach can cause lost in productivity. They argue that Internet access in moderation must be encouraged as the Internet has provided employees and organizations with many benefits.

As long as the Internet is used as intended and work gets done, it should be allowed, says Sharon Chong, director of SNP Data Services Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of the SNP Group.

“This media serves diverse audiences and not all materials are appropriate for everybody. Instead of cutting off Internet access, employers can take control of their employees’ cyber activities. They can take measures to prevent abuse,” she says.

At the home front, parents face an almost similar problem in controlling their children’s Internet activities, says Chong.

There are millions of Web sites that are not suitable for children to view. AltaVista, for instance, has about 14,896,710 pages on sex and the number is growing, and according to a study conducted, online predators will contact 77 per cent of youths by the time they turn 14.

“It’s a scary thought that your children might be part of this but that’s reality today, unless you take measures to prevent your children from being exposed to obscene or harmful media over the Internet. Control their Internet activities,” she says, adding that only an irresponsible parent would allow their children unrestricted access to the Internet.

For Nicholas Chan, operations manager of SNP Data Services, the best solution to combat this problem both at organizations and homes is to install filtration software on the computers.

He says that by installing filtering products, companies can control employee Internet usage and save billions each year in lost productivity, boost network performance and minimise legal liabilities.

Similarly on the home front, parents can ensure a safe cyber surfing experience for their children by installing filtration software.

“The abuse of Internet usage is a common problem in companies and at homes. Do you know that 70 per cent of all Internet porn traffic occurs during the nine-to-five workday

A filtration software can filter, manage and protect to make the Internet safer and to promote healthy surfing

“In addition, it can eliminate spyware and adware and pop-ups which can lead to slowdowns and clogging of computers,” highlights Chan.

Drawing attention to the availability of filtration software, he points out that a majority are shareware which require users to purchase online and download from the Internet.

According to him, off-the-shelf filtration software are hard to come by, especially in Malaysia.

“People are still skeptical about purchasing online and I feel this is one reason that parents especially have not bothered to install filtration software. It will help if there are more off-the-shelf Internet filtration software in the market,” he elaborates.

He adds that seeing this need, SNP Data Services became the regional distributorship for WebGreen Internet filtration software for four countries – Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.

He claims the software, developed in Korea, is a first of its kind, customised in trilingual language search functions. WebGreen allows for Web content monitoring, tracking and filtering in three languages – Bahasa Malaysia, English and Tagalog.

Chan also explains that it has scalable features and allows users to personalise filtering capabilities, control Internet browsing and manage unproductive Internet behaviours at work or at home.

Unlike other software, Chan says, there is only a one-time fee with free weekly update from an international archive centre. This easy-to-use Internet filtration software is currently priced at RM90. The company is targeting home users as well as small and medium-sized enterprises to market the product and is currently looking for channel partners to market and sell the product.

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