What HR Managers Should Know About Security

WatchGuard Technologies, one of the leading security companies, has outlined key guidelines for HR managers with respect to Information Security. While today’s next generation security systems defend networks, applications and data, they also illuminate extensive details about their employees.

“Policy enforcement is always a challenge, especially as lines are blurred between personal and business use of the Internet,” said Karen Vogel, Director of Human Resources at WatchGuard. “Having in-depth information about employee surfing patterns and Web activities gives us the flexibility and insight to quickly identify risky employee behavior from trivial, non-issues, as well as help maintain an overall culture of security, Karen added.

Because of legal, regulatory and compliance issues, every HR manager should have a solid understanding of their IT policies and security reporting capabilities. In doing so, they should:

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• Improve communication between HR and IT: Because of the wealth of information that resides within IT systems, and in particular company firewalls and content security appliances, now more than ever, HR managers need to work closely with IT management. By doing so, HR managers can gain fast and effective insight into potential employee issues before they escalate into full-blown problems.

• Leverage firewall reports: Firewalls record and report key information that every HR manager should access. Today, firewall reports are rich with data that can quickly show:
  - Top web users: by knowing which employees use the most bandwidth and make the most Internet connections, HR managers can quickly spot those who spend more time surfing than working.
  - Individual activities: Enforcement of Web use policies is always a challenge. By having the ability to see where each employee is surfing, HR managers gain an upper hand in keeping policies enforced for authorized as well as unauthorized use.
  - Abnormal activities: Firewall reports can also provide insight to unusual behavior. Employees logging on/off at unusual times or abnormally large data use may be signs of other potential problems.
  - Identify real risks: Every HR manager should know that some employees might try to use “anonymizers” as tools to sneak around corporate firewalls, and that other employees may be exposing their business to risks from peer-to-peer or FTP downloads. Your firewall can spot these risky employees immediately.

• Utilize application control: Here is where HR and IT need to be on the same page. For example, Application Control technologies now allow businesses to manage Web applications so that some in an organization can access Web applications, such as Facebook, but limit it so that none can play embedded games, such as Mafia Wars. With HR and IT in concert on use of web applications, policy enforcement becomes much easier and effective.
• Combat data loss: Similar to Application Control, business policies about Data Loss Prevention (DLP) should be shared between HR and IT. Content security appliances can generate both context and content aware policies and reports to reduce the risk of confidential, financial or other unauthorized data leaving the organization. If it does, HR should be involved.