Many employees have job responsibilities which require Web and other Internet applications. Because of the availability of intrusive software and the existence of various motivations, employees are subjected to unsolicited pop-up windows, browser hijacking, unintended release of confidential information, and unwanted e-mail. | Unsolicited Web Intrusions Protecting Employers and Employees 125 ChapterVII Unsolicited Web Intrusions Protecting Employers and Employees Paulette S. Alexander University of North Alabama USA ABSTRACT Many employees have job responsibilities which require Web and other Internet applications. Because of the availability of intrusive software and the existence of various motivations employees are subjected to unsolicited pop-up windows browser hijacking unintended release of confidential information and unwanted e-mail. These intrusions are a significant problem for employees and employers because they waste resources and create liability situations. Solutions examined include education of employees standards of practice in the conduct of job-related Internet use policies regarding Internet use for non-work-related Copyright 2004 Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited. 126 Alexander purposes and deployment of protective technologies. Constant attention to evolving threats and updating of the solutions is also essential to successful use of the Internet in the workplace. INTRODUCTION Privacy has been defined as the right to be left alone. Employees sometimes invoke this definition regarding their rights to use the Internet but another side to it is the interest shared by employers and employees to be protected against unsolicited Web intrusions. Other chapters of this book address the statistics associated with browsing to non-work sites during work hours from employer-owned computers and the sending and receiving of personal e-mails. The enormous problems associated with these phenomena are complicated by the uncontrolled proliferation ofunsolicited Web intrusions. These intrusions take the form ofunsolicited and unwanted advertisements in pop-up windows hij acking of the browser during the process of legitimate surfing collection ofpersonal personally identifiable and .
