BELMONT, Calif - February 3, 2009 - Actual
network data from FaceTime Communications reveals that employee use
of Web 2.0 applications such as Instant Messaging, IPTV, VoIP and
Social Networking on corporate networks exceeds IT estimates by up
to 10 times. FaceTime also today announced version 2.0 of its
Unified Security Gateway (USG), a
secure Web gateway purpose-built for the new Internet to
provide a single point of control for preventing
malware, controlling
Web 2.0 applications and managing
information leakage in corporate networks. The new USG gives IT
managers capabilities to detect and apply powerful policies to an
unprecedented 1,400 Web 2.0 and real-time applications in use by
employees.
During fourth quarter 2008 FaceTime collected live traffic data
from commercially deployed USG units at more than 80 mid to large
enterprises worldwide, representing the daily Web-based activities
of more than 100,000 corporate workers. In parallel, FaceTime asked
a large sample of IT managers how many Web 2.0 applications they
believed were in use on their networks; one third estimated the
number at less than eight. In reality, FaceTime's actual network
data shows an average of 49 Web 2.0 applications installed across
all reporting locations.
Table: IT Manager
estimates vs. actual traffic data
| Percentage of IT Managers who
thought app was being used in their location |
Percentage of locations that
show at least one endpoint using the app |
| Social Networking |
60% |
100% |
| Instant Messaging |
66% |
100% |
| Web based IM |
35% |
97% |
| Streaming Audio/video |
80% |
94% |
| IPTV |
10% |
100% |
| P2P File Sharing |
54% |
96% |
| Web Conferencing |
82% |
83% |
The reason for the high prevalence of Web 2.0 activity is clear.
Throughout the four years of FaceTime's attitudinal survey ("The
Collaborative Internet: Usage Trends, End User Attitudes and IT
Impact"), end users have consistently said they have the right to
download whatever applications they choose to help them do their
jobs. Through its award-winning Unified Security Gateway 2.0,
FaceTime offers enterprises visibility into these Web 2.0 and
real-time applications, as well as the ability to control access to
them without curbing employee productivity and collaboration.
USG2.0 offers more flexibility in creating and propagating polices
across teams and departments; total visibility into Internet
application traffic; robust malware detection and filtering and
comprehensive URL filtering. Time of day policies and usage quotas
can be set based on IT's discovery of employee application traffic
patterns on the network to manage
social networking and Web 2.0.
OTHER KEY FINDINGS FROM FACETIME
Adware and Malware Remain a Constant
Threat
Blocking adware and malware at the perimeter gateway remains
critical.
- 95 percent of locations reported attempted Trojan infections;
65 distinct Trojans were identified and blocked across all
locations.
- 73 percent reported attempted worm infections; Nine distinct
worms were identified and blocked across all locations.
- 98 percent reported attempted adware infiltration, with an
average of 35 adware products per location. Larger organizations
(2,500+ employees) suffered significantly more adware attempts than
smaller organizations.
Average of 95 social networking sites in use; obscure
sites just as dangerous as the well-known
Social networking was the biggest category. More than 400 unique
social networking sites were in use overall, with an average of 95
sites per location. Facebook was the most used site by a large
margin, with 50,000 instances of Facebook use on these networks. In
contrast, the no. 20 site on this list was accessed just 600 times
across all reporting locations, creating a long-tail effect that
can't be ignored when determining which sites to monitor and
control for potential security and compliance issues.
"Even the most obscure social networking sites are as much of a
threat to network security as the most popular sites," said Chris
Boyd, director of malware research for FaceTime Communications. "By
categorizing, detecting and writing policy for Web-based
applications, IT staff can rest assured they are taking every
measure possible to protect the network's integrity."
FaceTime defines social networking as any application or Web
site that links communities of people together through the ability
to upload and share media such as photos, videos and bookmarks,
blogs, or to message or link with friends, or to make new ones.
FaceTime analyzes Web 2.0 applications and sites across 13
categories on its www.GreynetsGuide.com Web site.
Findings Show Corporate Employees are Widely
Connected
Additional data paints an interesting picture of Internet use in
corporate America:
- Facebook -- A total of 1,851 unique Facebook applications were
detected across all reporting locations, with an average of 98 per
location. Facebook Chat was found most often, followed by Super
Wall, Top Friends, Causes, Slide Fun Space, We're Related, Viddler,
SuperPoke!, The VideoJug Brain-o-Meter and (Lil) Green Patch.
- Instant Messaging - AIM/ICQ and GoogleTalk were most prevalent,
found in 100 and 98 percent of reporting locations, respectively.
68 unique applications were found across all locations, with an
average of 12 per location.
- Meebo -- Web-based instant messaging was found in 98 percent of
reporting networks, with half of those being Meebo.
- IPTV - 34 distinct IPTV applications were found across 100
percent of reporting networks, with an average of 15 applications
found per network.
- Virtual Worlds -- Of the 81 Virtual Worlds in use across these
corporate networks, 75 are for children and teens. The top five are
Meez, Weblo, Second Life, Neopets and Club Penguin. An average of
11 virtual worlds were found per network.
- VoIP -- 26 VoIP applications were found, with Skype present in
100 percent of networks.
- Web Conferencing - 26 distinct Web conferencing applications
were found in 84 percent of reporting networks, with an average of
5 applications in each reporting network.
"Clearly, the complexity of today's Internet application traffic
far exceeds what URL filtering alone can detect and control," said
Kailash Ambwani, president and CEO for FaceTime Communications.
"Today's businesses need more sophisticated application control to
secure and manage how employees use the Internet."
Unified Security Gateway 2.0
USG integrates Web2.0 application detection and control, gateway
malware protection and Web filtering with FaceTime's best-in-class
IM hygiene and archiving, in a purpose-built, hardened appliance.
With this single point of control, more than 1,400 Web and
real-time applications and many thousands of social networking
applications can be tracked, monitored and controlled to give
organizations complete visibility into all Internet communications,
reduce total cost of ownership, and simplify administration.
With USG, IT administrators can set time of day or usage
policies across all applications and view detailed reports to gain
complete visibility into employees use of the network - not only in
terms of browsing but also specific Web 2.0 usage. This complete
visibility and control provides IT with a distinct advantage in
managing network resources in addition to securing against inbound
malware and putting controls in place to prevent outbound data
leakage.
At the core of the USG2's extensive application detection and
filtering capability is FaceTime's recently announced Application
Control Engine (ACE). Backed by FaceTime Security Labs'
exclusive application analysis and categorization, ACE
automatically updates its database to stay current with new
application detections.
Availability and Pricing - No URL Filtering
Fees
Unified Security Gateway will be available immediately from
FaceTime Communications and its worldwide channel partners, with
prices starting at $4,995. For more information please visit www.FaceTime.com.
To help IT managers meet new budget demands, FaceTime also today
launched its Forget the Fees program (see related
announcement), eliminating URL filtering fees for
the duration of any new qualifying contract signed before April 30,
2009. More information is available at http://www.facetime.com/nofees.
About Actiance, Inc. (Formerly FaceTime Communications, Inc.)
FaceTime Communications became Actiance, Inc on January 11, 2011 following an agreement to
transfer the FaceTime trademark to Apple.
FaceTime Communications enables the safe and productive use of Unified Communications and Web 2.0,
including instant messaging, blogs and social networking. Ranked number one by IDC for five consecutive
years, FaceTime's award-winning solutions are used by more than 1,500 customers for the security,
management and compliance of real-time communications. FaceTime supports or has strategic partnerships
with all leading IM, unified communications providers and social networks including AOL, Google, Yahoo!,
Skype, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
FaceTime is headquartered in Belmont, California. For more information visit
http://www.facetime.com or call 888-349-3223.
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