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Story URL: http://www.silicon.com/research/specialreports/network/0,3800013777,39166775,00.htm

Are corporate networks wide open to abuse?
Time to call for enforcement?

By Natasha Lomas

Published: Wednesday 18 April 2007

More than half of companies actively enforce an acceptable usage policy (AUP) for email, internet and network activity, according to a poll of silicon.com readers - but a significant proportion fail to do this.

In the poll, more than half (56 per cent) of respondents confirmed they actively enforce their AUP but more than a third (35 per cent) said they do not. A further nine per cent said they don't have an AUP at all.

An acceptable usage policy provides the framework for preventing staff from abusing the corporate network by, for instance, use of P2P networks or checking personal webmail accounts on company time - however, without active enforcement, an AUP is easily ignored and can seem toothless.

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In a recent silicon.com CIO Jury, two-thirds of the 12-strong panel of IT chiefs said businesses are failing to properly enforce AUPs because they are leaving it up to the IT department to do all the work - when in fact other departments, such as HR, should be actively involved.

Network performance is not the only thing that can suffer if AUP abuse occurs - horror stories about illegal downloads or malware wreaking havoc are far from exceptional. Moreover, businesses are responsible for what travels over or lives on their networks - so cannot simply claim ignorance of illegal downloads or pirated software on their LAN.

You can read more on the issues around corporate networks in our Know Your Network special report.

In related news, a survey by network content technology company Chronicle Solutions found 31 per cent of UK companies don't have an acceptable use policy, while only 33 per cent of employers who do have an AUP ask their new hires to read and agree to abide by it when they join the company. In addition, 80 per cent of respondents to the survey said they are not certain if there are penalties for breaching their employer's network usage policy.