NSFW – if you don’t know by now,
this is an abbreviation for ‘Not Safe for Work’. The main reason for a
website being classified as NSFW is because the content is pornographic
or illegal in nature.
I’ve written quite extensively about the need to block
websites as well as the repercussions of not blocking undesirable or
productivity-killing websites. Check out a recent blog about why you
should block websites here. In a nutshell, undesirable content found on
websites or social media networks are often riddled with viruses and can
leave your business devastated.
When it comes to productivity killers, you need to block websites
that fall into the following categories – or at least limit employees’
access to specific times:
Social media
Social media networks are huge time wasters. Limit employees’ access to social media sites to after-hours only.
Pornography
Pornography is not only a productivity killer, it can
also expose a corporation to the risk of litigation. Access to
pornographic websites must be completely blocked at all times.
Online games and casinos
Block this category of websites 100% of
the time. The best-case scenario of allowing access to gaming sites is
reduced productivity, while the worst-case scenario includes theft by a
compromised employee who needs to pay a gambling debt, litigation and
extreme workplace disruption.
Online shopping
Online shopping is another big productivity killer. Access to online shopping portals should be limited to specific times.
Torrents and other download sites
Torrents are mostly illegal
sources of content. Besides killing corporate bandwidth – a problem
that’s especially relevant in South Africa – torrents are potential
litigation triggers. These kinds of websites need to be blocked at all
times.
Consider the need to block even the most benign website categories;
the productivity killer categories that don’t even expose your company
to the serious threat of litigation, data and identity theft. Imagine
for a minute that a bunch of your employees spent a few hours every day
at the local shopping mall browsing the stores and chatting with friends
rather than coming to work, but still expected to be paid a full salary
every month. Unimaginable, right? Well, the effect of not blocking
website categories such as social media and online shopping portals is
the same. Some employees will actually spend the better part of the day
browsing the web and chatting online.
So, aside from the categories listed above, which unique websites
should be blocked? A study done last year in the US by Mashable and
Statista found Facebook to be the number one blocked website.
Interestingly, Gmail and other forms of free ‘personal’ email were also
blocked. See image below:
Whilst it’s impossible to reduce the list to a few individual
websites (hence the need to block website categories as described
above), I would suggest that the following sites should have limited
access rights during work hours:
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest
YouTube
Cloud-hosted office protection solutions are efficient, effective and easy to manage.
Cloud-hosted office protection solutions usually encompass:
Web filtering functionality: the ability to block websites and
website categories at multiple levels of the organisational hierarchy
Effective antivirus, malware and spam-ware protection
Device control to prevent unauthorised copying of corporate data for the purpose of taking the data off-site
Access our free guide here and the datasheet for cloud-based office protection here
