Employees caught in web

India – Employers may soon have to check their employees’ internet usage during working hours.

In India, employees spend an average five hours a week on personal web surfing, causing companies an annual loss of about 160,000 rupees (S$5690) per employee. The maximum of time spent on non-work related internet surfing is a whopping 12.35 hours every week.

The survey, conducted by internet security firm Websense and research firm Nielsen Company, indicated that banking and finance websites were the most accessed websites (74%) by the employees, followed by personal e-mail or web chat (62%) and news media (53%). Close to 32% of the IT managers also said in the survey that they felt their employees were accessing free software download sites.

"The survey findings are an eye-opener and highlight how essential it is for Indian IT managers to prioritise their IT security spend into technologies that protect organisations from emerging Web-based security threats and confidential data loss," Surendra Singh, regional director, Websense SAARC and India, said.

The respondents included IT managers from 450 large, small and medium enterprises providing internet access to employees at work.