Monitoring Networks for Human Resources and Corporate IT

Aside from technical and cybersecurity reasons for monitoring computer networks, businesses have many other reasons for monitoring internet and network activity. These include protecting trade secrets, liability for employee web activities, productivity loss and the abuse of network resources.

Trade secrets, including financial, legal and research documents, are obviously of high value to a business and could cause a great deal of damage if exposed publicly or to competitors. At the same time, these sorts of documents are incredibly easy to send out via email, FTP or other digital means via the business’s own internet connection (either accidentally or purposefully). Network monitoring gives corporate IT the means to investigate the leakage of sensitive documents and definitively identify which data has been compromised.

Further, in an environment where businesses can be held liable for employees’ misuse of corporate computer networks, corporate IT departments can use IPCopper packet capture appliances to discreetly monitor how employees use the networks and nip growing problems (that could lead to allegations of harassment, defamation, a hostile work environment or being an accessory to criminal activity or personal injury) in the bud.

The information gathered by IPCopper appliances may be used to evaluate adherence to workplace policies as well as to track the flow of data out of the corporate information network. The data captured is invaluable in investigating infractions and complaints of activities taking place digitally via the network.

IPCopper packet capture appliances are versatile internet and network activity recording devices that can be deployed anywhere on a computer network. The appliances capture everything transmitted at the Ethernet level – both headers and payloads, in their entirety. The data collected would include URLs, web content, emails, IM sessions and any other digital communications sent along the wire.

For security and privacy, the captured data is immediately encrypted using a unique 20,000 bit key and then stored on the unit’s internal hard drives. The units themselves feature tamper-resistant cases, which cannot be opened without the use of power tools.

• Records all web content, accessed via the corporate computer network, including URLS, images and text
• Captures IM, SIP and chat sessions
• Records documents and communications leaving the corporate computer network
• No need to re-arrange or re-configure the network, no software to install
• Does not affect computing performance or otherwise modify user’s computers
• Does not affect network speed or slow down internet access
• Integrated security features safeguard the privacy of the captured data