Top 10 Challenges Faced by IT Managers

When it comes to security issues at organizational level, it is not dealing with malware that comes first but managing employees to use web in secure and efficient way. According to a report from MessageLabs Security Safeguard, the top 10 issues faced by IT managers of American companies are:

1. Time wasting online: 86% of the IT managers surveyed said that they worry about employees wasting time in social networking and similar sites, which in turn saps the productivity and discourages honest people from disciplined web usage.
2. Enforcing acceptable web usage policies: 53% of the IT managers found enforcing acceptable Internet usage policies in a consistent way, a challenge.
3. Monitoring web usage: Effective monitoring of web usage and generating reports was another challenging issue for 52% of the IT managers.
4. Keeping security systems up to date: Updating patches for typical software like in-house web filters, policy engines, spam and anti-malware systems and signatures for antivirus database was biggest management challenge for 49% of respondents.
5. Addressing Legal risks: The accidental disclosure of confidential info online (57%) and employees visiting inappropriate or offensive websites (44%) are some legal risks, which the respondents found challenging to address.
6. Internet bandwidth wastage: Around 44% of the respondents were concerned about wastage of internet for non-business related purpose like video streaming, social networking sites, etc., which affects the bandwidth availability for legitimate business purposes like email, web browsing and VPN connections.
7. Protecting employees working from remote and home locations: 42% of the IT managers were concerned about the possibilities of infections spread by employees working from homes and remote locations via laptops or computers, who cannot be covered under the company’s firewall.
8. Access to unauthorized web applications: 42% of the respondents found it challenging to restrict access to unauthorized web applications like personal mail, IM applications, etc., through which employees can upload company’s confidential information or access to services that are outside company control.
9. Malware and spyware protection: With the increasing number of threats online, protecting the network from malware and spyware was a challenge for 40% of the IT managers.
10. Protecting multiple locations: Around 19% (76% among companies with 500 employees or more) of the IT managers found it challenging to protect their company’s branches in multiple locations from online threats as well as inappropriate web usage of the employees.