How much time will your employees spend shopping online at work this holiday season?  Here are some interesting statistics from the Information Systems and Audit Control Association (ISACA):

• 63% of employees shop online using their work computers
• 55% of employers allow online shopping but don’t educate employees about potential risks
• 26% of employees shop online without adequately checking web site security
• employees between the ages of 18-24 spend the most time shopping online and take the most risks
• employers lose an average of $3,000+ in productivity per employee due to online shopping

In addition to lost productivity, failure to address the above activity can result in viruses, spam, phishing and other horrible things that can cripple a company’s IT infrastructure. 

Almost all companies have implemented computer usage policies to deal with these issues.  But many of them are ridiculously overbroad and inconsistently enforced, which can result in morale issues and discrimination lawsuits.

So, what should employers do?

1. Implement a reasonable computer usage policy and consistently enforce it.
2. Train employees on appropriate computer usage before the holidays and follow up with reminders.
3. Implement basic security measures such as spam filters, patches, firewalls and intrusion detection systems and update them regularly.
4. Monitor networks for suspicious activity, respond quickly to threats and remind employees to notify management of potential problems.
5. Conduct periodic risk assessments and update the usage policy and security measures accordingly.

For more from ISACA on this topic, click here.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 9th, 2008 at 7:19 am and is filed under Employment Law News, Online shopping, Shopping, Studies, Trends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.