7 Benefits of Internet Monitoring Software
Internet monitoring software is a powerful tool that can detect and regulate traffic on the network that the software is installed on. Controlling internet traffic allows a company to regulate its employees, regardless of whether or not they work in a brick-and-mortar office space or work remotely.
There is an increasing number of companies adopting internet monitoring software in order to protect their bottom line. This is most likely because malicious attacks are becoming increasingly more prevalent and they can cost a company millions.
Additionally, with more and more remote employees, remote monitoring can minimize the risk of workers accessing sensitive company data remotely.
Implementing internet monitoring software can: decrease the level of risk associated with weak network protocols, increase the level of security around potential insider threats, and can maximize productivity so tasks are completed efficiently and on time.
While these are three of the main benefits associated with internet monitoring software, many companies are not aware that this software can provide useful data for improving your ROI. And by improving productivity, your company can have better insight into competitive marketing techniques, unique solutions, and better customer awareness.
To better understand why your company needs to invest in a premium internet monitoring software, here are the seven benefits to implementing one:
1. Manage Employee Productivity
It is almost human nature to try and find a way to get paid while doing as little work as possible. This lack of effort not only wastes your company’s precious money but can also affect the client-facing portion of your business.
Employees who do not complete tasks on time are negatively impacting your company’s ROI and affecting your client-base. Network monitoring software has time tracking capabilities, so employees must log the hours for completing a task. This can allow you to identify how long a task is really taking from start to finish.
On top of that, employee monitoring tools can track the amount of time an employee spends on applications, websites, or programs, and take screenshots of a computer’s image. Analyze these screenshots to see if an employee is truly working on a project when they say they are. You can use this data to establish specific timelines for projects.
This can be done with the employees or as a top-down approach. Monitoring software can also set time allowances for personal sites, such as social media platforms or banking sites.
2. Collect Data
The data you collect through monitoring tools can be applied to all business operations. This data can tell you: how much time and money is spent on wasted time, how this time/money is impacting your ROI, the level of effort needed for certain types of tasks (client-facing versus internal operations), and much more. Having extensive data on employee and company workflows gives your management insight into how day-to-day operations can broadly affect annual returns.
3. Avoiding Harmful Websites
Harmful websites house malicious file transfers that can tap into an employee’s computer. These file transfers can start small. While it may not seem like the computer or network is initially infected, a malicious file transfer can download itself onto your computer and remain inactive for a period of time until the perfect moment to strike. This is known as an advanced persistent threat (APT). APTs can stealthily navigate your network to find and expose potential breach points and mine your data.
Since malicious attacks can be very deceptive, it is impossible to ask your employees to discern a safe website from a harmful website. Leave that up to your IT department. With network monitoring software, your IT department can restrict known harmful websites and attributes of harmful websites to keep your employees (and customers!) safe.
4. Alerts to Malicious Attacks
Even with the highest security measures being enforced, malicious attacks still happen. However, with monitoring software, your team can stay on top of potentially malicious activity.
Monitoring software will monitor any events that you wish to track. When a malicious event is registered, the software will alert your company’s admin console to the breach.
Flag specific network activity (like a request to download a certain number of data) and receive an alert each time that activity occurs. You can also flag specific employees, either because of a history of high-risk behavior or because a major network change has taken place.
Additionally, daily security reports can be generated for your team so security protocols can be constantly adapted. These reports allow you to perform analyses and alert your team to critical operational or productivity issues.
5. Advanced Security Protocols
Internet monitoring software works beyond your network’s firewall, anti-viral, and anti-malware software tools. While these types of software will defend your computer and network against intruders that aim to gain access to your sensitive information, there are other ways in which sensitive data can be leaked from inside your company.
Additionally, these types of software typically do not allow for employee time-tracking, nor do they monitor application activity or take screenshots.
Advanced security protocols with monitoring software will allow your team to cross-reference risky behaviors, malicious sites, and unwanted internet protocols. This software will also work hard to pinpoint potential vulnerabilities and beachheads (when they happen).
Another benefit of monitoring software is that it allows your team to practice data recovery. In the event that a data breach occurs, your company will most likely be unable to participate in normal business operations.
Your data might be held captive, or potential movement in your company might trigger malicious behavior from an APT. Therefore, during malicious attacks, there is a period when your data is untouchable, when your data needs to be recovered, and when your company needs to rebound from the attack. Without a proper recovery plan in place, this might take months. Minimize the downtime and lost revenue with a proper recovery plan instituted by monitoring software.
6. Bandwidth Controls
One way in which your data can be stolen from under your company’s nose is when an employee or infiltrated malicious attacker siphons data through an uploading terminal.
These terminals may be undetectable to you and your team. Therefore, the prospect of defending against this type of attack may feel hopeless. One way you may be able to fight back is to establish bandwidth controls.
Bandwidth usage controls are a type of security setting that limits the number of data that can be processed through a server.
To isolate network attacks, you can limit bandwidth on each user’s computer so that no matter how much data passes through the network, your monitoring software can identify whether or not one computer is doing the majority of the work.
Some highly sophisticated attacks can detect this type of information. But monitoring software can also suggest a potentially suspicious activity if a certain type of packet is repeatedly getting moved when it is not supposed to be. Bandwidth controls can be your saving grace for slow-leak data hacks.
Additionally, bandwidth controls will also look at the type of data that has contributed to high or suspicious network traffic. If a removable device gains access to your network (either allowed or by hacking in), then the internet monitoring software will be able to monitor data passing through undetectable devices.
Monitoring software cannot be installed on mobile devices so you are unable to monitor employee phone activity or protect it directly from malicious attacks. However, if mobile devices access the network that your monitoring software is observing, then you are able to monitor the behaviors that a mobile device wants to perform on your network.
7. Monitor for Insider Threats
Insider threats are increasing in a world where data is becoming more valuable and larger companies cannot maintain close control. A malicious attack by an insider threat is the cause of nearly 50% of all malicious attacks in 2019. This means that 50% of the time that your company’s data is stolen, it is done by an inside source.
Real-time monitoring can help you protect against insider threats in two valuable ways. The first is that this software performs keystroke logging. Keystroke logging is a method whereby a program records, logs, and categories each keystroke that happens on a given computer during a given session. Log and categorize all keystrokes 24/7 to identify suspicious internet usage. Keystrokes are logged regardless of the application or website visited and all the data is timestamped. A keystroke logger logs and categorizes every key that a user hits during any given session. Keylogger technology used by SoftActivity will help detect insider threats, and logs international characters as well as English letters and numbers.
Another useful feature is screen monitoring. Screen monitoring gives your team the ability to screenshot a computer screen image, to monitor employee activity on a computer screen live, or monitor employee personnel through a live webcam feed. This way you can stay on top of what activities are being performed and who is performing them.
Conclusion
Internet monitoring activity could save your bottom line from malicious attacks. It can also boost your ROI by providing your company data of wasted productivity and negligent employees. Internet monitoring software is a powerful surveillance tool for both web-based and on-premise solutions. These are just seven of the benefits of internet monitoring software. Check out the SoftActivty website to learn more about how our workstation monitor and TS monitor can benefit your company.
By SoftActivity Team
Download your SoftActivity Free Trial now!