LONDON and SAN MATEO, Calif., April 7, 2006--ScanSafe, the pioneer and leader in managed Web security services, polled almost 1 billion Web requests during the first few days of April, and saw a dramatic surge in employee visits to online betting sites during office hours ahead of Saturday's Grand National.
Over the last seven days to 5th April, ScanSafe recorded a huge increase in visits to gambling websites - up 73 percent over the previous seven days. One customer had a member of staff who spent close to two hours on one particular gambling site.
"These statistics may cause concern for many organizations, as they illustrate that employees are increasingly using the Internet for personal reasons -- around 40 percent of users are now spending around an hour each day on recreational surfing alone," said Eldar Tuvey, CEO and co-founder, ScanSafe.
"The fact that people are checking out gambling sites is no big surprise on the run up to the U.K.'s biggest horse race. What is a concern is that recreational surfing at work can open up potential security risks for companies by exposing them to inappropriate content, Web viruses and spyware that can potentially steal confidential information and passwords.
"Recently we have protected a number of our corporate customers from Trojan threats that are being distributed through some dubious gambling sites which can modify users' desktop settings. Having the right Web security technology in place is important, but the only safe bet is to ensure staff know and understand an employer's policy on personal Internet usage. This is the best way to protect a company's IT network against potential Web-based malware threats."
Interestingly, the most widely searched-for horse on the Web was Hedgehunter --searched for 130 times in a single day by one of ScanSafe's larger customers.
"Hedgehunter is the possible favorite for the race, so it seems that employees are now using the Web to study racing form as well," added Tuvey.
Top five horse betting/gambling websites accessed by U.K. employees during work hours -- seven days ending April 5th
| Rank |
Website |
|---|---|
| 1. |
Betfair |
| 2. |
Ladbrokes |
| 3. |
Racing Post |
| 4. |
William Hill |
| 5. |
Cora |
About ScanSafe
Formed in 1999, ScanSafe is the world's first provider of a fully managed Internet level Web security service. Powered by proactive heuristics technology Outbreak Intelligence, ScanSafe provides a comprehensive suite of Web security services that guarantee high performance, best-of-breed protection. Its fully managed services screen the Web when users surf, keeping it safe and productive. Viruses, malware and spyware are blocked before they reach the network and Web access policies are enforced. ScanSafe currently screens three billion web requests each month blocking two million threats on behalf of customers such as BMW, Bacardi and Eurostar.
