UnumProvident Monitors Employee Surfing with SurfControl Tech

In an effort to improve employee productivity, not to mention protect itself from legal liability and Web-based viruses, UnumProvident Corp. (Portland, ME, Chattanooga) has chosen Scotts Valley, CA-based SurfControl Inc.'s SuperScout Web Filter 4.0 to screen out inappropriate Web sites and unwanted viruses.

"SuperScout monitors employees' usage of the Internet," says Kevin Blakeman, president of SurfControl. "UnumProvident will get a full audit trail of sites that an employee visits and it will monitor usage for Web-based threats." Blakeman notes that although many companies monitor incoming e-mail for viruses, viruses are also located on the Web and in Web-based e-mail-areas not covered by many e-mail virus protection programs.

"Many companies believe they have a rigid boundary because they have firewalls and virus e-mail detection programs," Blakeman says. "But people can go to Web sites and download executable files and that is sometimes not monitored."

According to Johnathan Hyler, security architect engineer, UnumProvident, the company chose SuperScout because using the Internet is just as important in today's work environment as using the telephone. "When an employee doesn't use the Internet properly, the employer doesn't necessarily take it away because it is too important as a business tool," Hyler comments. "But if an employee is going to sites that are inappropriate to the job or the work environment, managers need to know so they can address the behavior in an informed and consistent manner."

SurfControl can either automatically block sites or downloads, or it can refer suspect activity to a manager, Blakeman says. "It is up to the company to determine if they want SuperScout to work automatically," he says. "The reporting and control can be configured in a variety of ways to be automatic or manual."

Greg MacSweeney is editorial director of InformationWeek Financial Services, whose brands include Wall Street & Technology, Bank Systems & Technology, Advanced Trading, and Insurance & Technology. View Full Bio