Vendors Spar on Workplace Net Surfing

Computerworld - WASHINGTON -- IT managers who want to control workplace Internet use have a new adversary, a San Diego company that claims to make it possible for employees to surf anonymously.

Anonymizer Inc. last month released a new version of its product, Private Surfing 2.0, and coupled it with a bold marketing claim: "Surf at work without being monitored."

Indeed, employees are being encouraged to pay $29.95 annually to circumvent systems put in place by their IT departments. But the message to surf-happy employees ought to be "buyer beware."

No sooner had Anonymizer begun its marketing campaign than Orange, Calif.-based 8e6 Technologies Inc. (a takeoff on the slang expression "eighty-six" meaning "to eliminate") announced a simple library update to thwart Anonymizer. Another security and filtering company, St. Bernard Software Inc. in San Diego, said it didn't even have to make changes to thwart Anonymizer's product.

Potential for Mischief

IT managers such as Harold Moscho, director of technology management for 6,000 users at MultiCare Health System in Tacoma, Wash., are nonetheless concerned by the development.

"I hope that it is not something that is very widespread," said Moscho, who's using 8e6's filtering technology. He said he's concerned that Anonymizer may appeal to people "who have a great deal of desire for vengeful or mischievous" behavior.

Users of Private Surfing surf the Internet through Anonymizer's network. They log on through their Web browser and get IP addresses and domain names that can't be traced back to them.

The filtering services are thwarting employees by blocking access to Anonymizer.com. And if the connection is encrypted, 8e6 will time-out or cut off an encrypted link, said Mark Parker, a senior engineer at 8e6.

Anonymizer officials dispute claims that its system can be blocked by these filters; if blocked, the Anonymizer.com domain can make available other IP addresses and domains.

Regardless, firm founder and president Lance Cotrell downplayed the workplace surfing claim. "We're not really pushing the surfing at work." He acknowledged that employers can use a range of tools, such as keystroke monitoring, to track employee Internet use.

Surfing Turf War NO RIGHT: Employees who want to surf the Web at work have no legal protections, and there’s nothing to prevent employers from monitoring them, say experts. NO LAWS: Efforts by state and federal lawmakers to impose a “notice” requirement have failed in the face of business opposition.

Read more about Security in Computerworld's Security Topic Center.