Barracuda Networks Study Shows Half of Businesses Restricting Employee Web Surfing Also Block Social Networking Sites

MySpace and Facebook Targets of Web Surfing Restrictions at Work

Barracuda Networks, Inc., the worldwide leader in email and Web security appliances, today announced that an analysis of data contributed by thousands of its Barracuda Web Filter customers found that 50 percent of businesses using Barracuda Web Filters are blocking MySpace or Facebook, two social networking Web sites.

While 44 percent of the companies using Barracuda Web Filters currently block MySpace, only 26 percent blocked Facebook. The detailed results are:
– Block only MySpace 24.6%
– Block only Facebook 6.3%
– Block both 19.3%
– Total (blocking one or the other or both) 50.2%

Barracuda Networks also ran a separate survey of 228 IT security professionals which indicated that 53 percent of businesses currently restrict employee Web surfing via automated Web filtering systems, and almost two-thirds of businesses (65 percent) expect to enforce Web surfing restrictions in 2008, a nearly 23 percent growth from year to year.

Barracuda Networks’ poll gauged the top two reasons businesses had for enforcing employee Web surfing restrictions overall: virus or spyware prevention (70 percent) and employee productivity drain (52 percent). Companies cite bandwidth concerns (36 percent) and liability issues (28 percent) as further justification for restricting employee Internet access.

“Businesses are increasingly applying content-control mechanisms to protect their networks and maintain maximum organization productivity,” said Dean Drako, president and CEO of Barracuda Networks. “With the changing face of the Internet, companies need the flexibility to continuously monitor and customize Internet policy enforcement while providing their employees optimum use of the Web.”

Additional content-control activity

Further analysis of the Barracuda Web Filter installed base indicates that companies consistently block Web sites that fall under the following categories: hacking, illegal drugs, intolerance and hate, phishing and fraud, offensive content, terrorism, violence, weapons and spam. Yet the analysis found that companies use varying approaches to Web surfing:
21 percent actively monitor employee Internet activity in addition to deploying controls.
6 percent enforce time restrictions on employee use of the Internet.
3 percent supplement company-wide policies with restrictions by department or employee.

Spyware Web sites still major concern

“Spyware is still a major concern,” said Drako. “Although the full implications of spyware are not always understood, many customers worry about spyware effects on productivity and security, and therefore want protection.”

The contributed data from thousands of Barracuda Web Filters also showed that virtually all customers block spyware traffic and spyware downloads. The top spyware sites blocked include Adware sites such as MySearch, FunWebProducts, and Hotbar, which track search activity and redirect search results or infuse searches with unauthorized pop-up ads, tying up network bandwidth. Backdoor.Ranky.X, a site which infiltrates Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channels, takes over infected machines and converts them into covert proxies for spam activity, was also on the list of top blocked spyware sites.

For more information on the most blocked spyware and the top Web sites blocked by Barracuda Web Filters, please visit Barracuda Central, a 24/7 security operations center that continuously monitors and blocks the latest Internet threats, at www.barracudacentral.com.

About Barracuda Networks, Inc.

Established in 2002, Barracuda Networks, Inc., is the worldwide leader in email and Web security appliances. Barracuda Networks also provides world-class IM protection, application server load balancing and message archiving appliances. More than 50,000 companies, including Coca-Cola, FedEx, Harvard University, IBM, L’Oreal, NASA and Europcar, are protecting their networks with Barracuda Networks solutions. Barracuda Networks’ success is due to its ability to deliver easy to use, comprehensive solutions that solve the most serious issues facing customer networks without unnecessary add-ons, maintenance, lengthy installations or per user license fees. Barracuda Networks is privately held with its headquarters in Campbell, Calif. Barracuda Networks has offices in eight international locations and distributors in more than 80 countries worldwide. For more information, please visit www.barracuda.com.

Contacts

Barracuda Networks, Inc.
Kylie Heintz, 408-342-5440
kheintz {at} barracuda(.)com
Tracy Yen, 408-342-5417
tyen {at} barracuda(.)com