It's no surprise to anyone that cybersecurity threats to companies continue to grow. The complexity of attacks and the damage caused have also increased. Even the specific law for the processing of personal data, the LGPD , is used as a persuasive tool to extort money from companies that have had data leaked.
Furthermore, the productivity factor of the work team, whether in person or remotely, is still widely discussed among managers and IT professionals responsible for implementing tools to control and focus the team.
So, what would be the ideal answer to the question: is blocking websites in the workplace still important in 2021? The answer is yes! For several reasons that you will see later in this article.
How does website blocking work at the company?
Before understanding the reasons and benefits of using an internet access management tool in a company, it is important to understand how this process works.
There are several tools designed to block websites considered harmful or outside the scope of work, aimed at companies and corporations. Among the most common on the market are Cisco Umbrella (OpenDNS), Lumiun Box , DNS Filter , Fortinet FortiGate , and pfSense .
However, the solutions differ considerably from each other, and do not always adapt to all the diversities found in the business environment.
What they have in common is the ability to manage access requests to websites considered harmful or unrelated to the work performed by the team in the business environment.
When an effective internet access policy is in place that meets the company's needs, all attempts to access websites classified as harmful are automatically blocked by the blocking tool. The rules and settings are typically configured on a cloud-based platform and can be applied to groups, departments, or individually by device.
The benefits of using this type of solution go far beyond simply "blocking" websites, as you can see in the following lines.
Why block websites in the workplace in 2021?
As we mentioned earlier, DNS query filtering technology is more than just a method for filtering web content. It serves as a shield against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats and also helps the team focus, consequently increasing work results.
New digital threats
Check Point's annual report shows that 97% of all companies worldwide suffered at least one malware attack in 2020. Furthermore, the average amount demanded in these extortion attempts nearly doubled compared to the previous year.
The strategies used by hackers have also evolved, such as the infamous phishing scam, which typically involved sending emails containing malicious links that, when opened, requested passwords and confidential data. Knowing users are more aware of unknown links in emails, criminals are now using an HTML attachment where the link doesn't appear and forces the browser to open the website in the same window.
Another "cheat" used by cybercriminals is sending SMS messages for phishing scams, called " smishing ," which is a combination of "SMS" and "phishing." In the attack, criminals realized that SMS makes the threat more effective because most people are unaware of scams through this channel, and users are also less careful with mobile devices.
Another development that deserves attention is the ransomware attack, where the criminal gains access to the company's network, encrypts the files, and then demands a ransom payment for the data. Updated to its 2.0 version, the attack now, in addition to holding devices and systems hostage, siphons confidential data from the equipment and threatens to release it on the internet if the ransom is not paid.
A partial survey of the last 6 months showed that a thousand organizations were affected by ransomware every week in the second quarter of 2021, and the second quarter is only halfway through. The numbers show that this type of attack is becoming increasingly frequent around the world.
A tool designed for DNS filtering can be a great solution in combating digital threats. Blocking access to websites considered malicious at the DNS layer, which is the network edge, eliminates a large part of the company's security problems.
Behavioral changes in 2020 and 2021
Last year, with Covid-19, 13 million people started shopping online in Brazil. This sales channel attracted new consumers, increasing the total number of online customers by almost 30% compared to 2019.
Mobile purchases also skyrocketed, with the device now accounting for 55.1% of the total, equivalent to R$45.9 billion.
The restrictions on movement and the closure of physical stores during the pandemic were the main factors driving the growth of online shopping.
Furthermore, the number of purchases made through social media also increased in 2020, rising from 22% to 34%, with a much larger increase predicted for 2021.
In other words, people are using their cell phones more to make purchases, increasing the hours of daily use of the device, including during work, causing managers and IT professionals to increasingly seek ways to reduce unauthorized access or distractions caused by employees.
Reduction of work teams
We must also pay attention to the number of employees in companies. According to IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), the unemployment rate grew by almost 14% in 2020, reaching 13.9 million unemployed in the country. This number is due to the need to reduce staff and the drop in revenue of physical stores.
But what does unemployment in the country have to do with the need to block websites in the business environment? It has to do with productivity!
With smaller teams and lower revenues, managers are looking for more productive and engaged employees, ensuring that each employee produces as much as possible and wastes as little time as possible on activities outside their job scope.
Considering the changes in the economic landscape, social distancing, and also in internet usage behavior, especially on mobile phones, the need to use tools to control internet access in the company is evident, reducing access to social networks and shopping sites, for example, thus optimizing employee productivity.
Work team productivity
In addition to improving the company's internet security, blocking websites within the company has a positive impact on team productivity.
With the economy weakened by the pandemic, generating more results from teams online has become a priority for companies.
On average, employees spend only 43% of their work week on the tasks they were hired to perform. Furthermore, they are interrupted an average of 14 times a day by internet tools such as WhatsApp and social media.
Such data proves that team productivity is affected by the misuse of the internet. Therefore, using a tool to block websites outside the scope of work aligns with the company's desire for growth and productivity, improving processes, task execution time, and in some cases even the quality of the tasks performed.
Cost reduction
With the network and internet access protected from threats, problems such as slow speeds and failures in company devices, usually caused by the installation of malware originating from accessing harmful websites, are avoided. Such problems are frequent in the business environment and generate costs not only in terms of the responsible professional's time, but also in maintenance and device unavailability while repairs are being made.
In addition to maintenance costs, the performance of systems and computers can also be compromised, since devices infected with viruses make excessive use of the network, causing slowdowns.
Is it still important to block websites in the workplace?
Many managers and IT professionals wonder if it's still important to block access to websites in the company. And yes, it still is important .
As we saw earlier, employees are usually responsible for clicking on and accessing websites considered harmful, compromising company data, and incurring costs associated with paying ransom for this data in case of a breach.
Furthermore, the productivity and availability of the company's network is directly related to employees' internet access, and improper internet usage can compromise revenue.
As we've discussed in other articles on this blog, implementing an internet access policy and offering training for safe and responsible internet use within the company can help prevent these problems in some cases, but it won't eliminate 100% of the damage.
Therefore, if you are looking to protect your company's internet security and also optimize the productivity and performance of your team that uses the internet, consider using an internet access blocking solution.
Until later!
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