Carol Cordon-Allred is something of an Internet omniscient.
The information system specialist at Horizon CU here knows everything about how employees use the Internet-the sites they visit, how long they surf, and what they download.
"I can control the amount of time that employees are on the Internet and the amount of bandwidth they use, and I close down the Internet at will," explained Cordon-Allred - who was quick to mention that she tries to use her power judiciously.
Not that all that power is really necessary at the $80-million CU.
"We have very upstanding employees," said Cordon-Allred. "I've never had to report anyone for Internet abuse."
Roam If They Want To
Employees should be able to roam the Net more freely, some IT managers recently told The Credit Union Journal (CUJ Oct. 23, 2006). At those CUs, the line of thinking goes something like this: employees are well-trained on web usage policies, and the Internet is a critical tool for the job.
But the risks are great, according to Cordon-Allred: employees-accidentally or purposefully-may click through to data hacking or shopping sites. Such sites can chip away at network security, she said.
Margaret Diego, product manager at SurfControl, an Internet security firm based in Scotts Valley, Calif., agreed: "In organizations that allow Internet access without safeguards, spyware or Trojans can enter the network due to the downloading of code piggybacked on what appears to be harmless material."
Employee productivity may also be threatened, asserted Cordon-Allred. "If employees have downtime or are bored at work, they're prone to surf the Internet."
Indeed, about 40% of all Internet use on the job is not related to work, according to a survey by the research and advisory firm Information Data Corporation of Framingham, Mass.
Worse yet, members may catch wind of an employee's travels, said Cordon-Allred.
"What if a member walked by and happened to see an inappropriate site that was accidentally brought up, or even a search engine result that was inappropriate?" she added.
Facing The Risk
In 2000, Horizon faced these risks when it prepared to allow call center representatives to access an indirect lending provider's site and the National Automobile Dealers Association, said Cordon-Allred.
"We didn't want the entire Internet open to them," she explained. "We wanted a way to control it."
To batten down the hatches, Horizon chose the SurfControl web filtering tool.
Web Filter made it easy to automatically block inappropriate sites according to various categories, such as "Weapons," "Gambling," and "Remote Proxies," said Cordon-Allred.
But a hole remained: employees could still click through to blocked sites from permitted sites.
"I was fighting a never-ending battle," she said. "I was spending a good 15 hours per week categorizing and blocking websites."
Two years ago, Horizon added Virtual Control Agent, which allows Cordon-Allred to prevent employees from clicking through to inappropriate sites once they're on the Internet.
"Now I spend about one hour per week monitoring web usage," she added. "I look at usage reports and update the site categories through the Virtual Control Agent."
Internet use is critical for Horizon employees, said Cordon-Allred. "Many job tasks are Internet-based, so employees must be able to access the Internet. They can't do their jobs well without it."
For example, employees download mortgage documents and check the Specially Designated Nationals list at external sites.
Loss Of Competitive Edge
"Denying access to such information in real time could mean the loss of a competitive edge," Diego said.
Other sites permitted by Horizon include credit union training and education, employee benefits and policies, corporate e-mail and local schools and news.
Horizon employees don't feel subjugated by SurfControl, Cordon-Allred added.
"I think what we're offering them is more than sufficient," she said. "All the sites help employees to better themselves, and we don't fully cut them off from the world on the Internet."
CUJ Resource
For info on this story:
* Horizon CU at www.myhorizoncu.com
* SurfControl at www.surfcontrol.com
