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Computer Misuse Computer misuse can mean many things, all of which can be extremely detrimental to your business:
Surfing for inappropriate content - Pornography accounts for in the region of 70% of all Internet traffic. It may seem harmless to many, but there can be severe consequences. Forget about the lost time your employee is spending looking at this type of material and then consider viruses, trojans, adware, premium diallers and the list goes on. But even more concerning is the real chance that illegal content is finding its way on to your systems, just because of a bit of porn.
Social Networking - Seems totally harmless and sometimes it is. Social networking is addictive to many people and it becomes part of their life. Hours upon hours can be spent and wasted, and worryingly many will say just about anything when online, including talking about your business.
Online Chat - This crosses over to an extent with social networking and is a real time killer.
Virtual Worlds - A real up and coming destroyer of time, the user creates an online avatar and lives a virtual life online.
Funny/risky emails - And yes they are funny and sometimes harmless. But consider that the most likely way you will infect your system is via an email, then it might not be quite as funny after all. Employees are constantly sending and receiving jokes, pornographic and other inappropriate email content, which could mean the joke ends up being on you.
Deliberate Sabotage - Maybe someone is unhappy and decides to get back at the company and does something to the system or individual computer. It may be that there are criminal offences or just an annoyance factor. Also this covers outside attacks by hackers and the like.
Espionage - Sounds very heavy, but it means pretty much anything where your employee or indeed competitior accesses or tries to access your systems with the intention of obtaining information for an improper use. Something as simple as a USB stick to remove data can fall under this.
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