U.S. Department of the Interior Deploys 8e6 Technologies' Web Filters to Combat Inappropriate Internet Usage

Business Wire, Oct 6, 2006

DOI Inspector General's Report, "Excessive Indulgencies," Reveals Flagrant Misuse of the Web

ORANGE, Calif. -- 8e6 Technologies, a security company dedicated to Internet filtering and reporting, today announced that the U.S. Department of the Interior has selected 8e6 Technologies to block inappropriate Web sites, monitor employees' Internet use and enforce the organization-wide Internet Acceptable Usage Policy. This announcement comes on the heels of a DOI Inspector General's report issued this week that details egregious misuse of the Web by department employees.

The report shows that DOI employees are spending thousands of hours a week visiting non-work-related Internet sites, including shopping, gambling and sex-related content (go to http://www.doioig.gov/ to access the full report). More than 70,000 employees at the DOI have access to the Internet each day and had been doing so without the filtering and reporting technology in place to prevent or monitor access to a wide variety of Web sites.

"We started working with the DOI in August, with the monitoring of DOI employee Web use in order to establish a baseline for how they used the Web," said Paul Myer, president and COO of 8e6 Technologies. "The report issued this week proves that the 'honor system' for Web use does not work and that without a comprehensive solution deployed across an organization, employees can easily get around filters that may be in place for certain groups or departments. 8e6 filters are now being used to filter and block access to inappropriate content for 70,000 employees and plug all the leaks that have been identified in the report."

The Inspector General's investigation into its employees' Internet use highlights the need for consistent monitoring. While some sites are clearly inappropriate and can be categorically blocked, there are thousands of others that fall into a nebulous middle groundCosites that can be used for legitimate purposes at work, but can also be abused. Through monitoring, IT administrators can quickly identify overuse, the outright misuse of questionable Web sites as well as user intent in exploring the Web. Monitoring uncovers stealth methods, such as the use of on-the-fly Internet proxies, to bypass filters and helps organizations such as the DOI ensure they have closed all the gaps and that employees are in compliance with Internet Acceptable Use Policies.

Finally, the report reveals that when an organization cobbles together multiple systems that do not communicate with each other, the result can be spotty coverage with gaping holes that allow employees with limited technical prowess to easily bypass the existing filters. The enterprise-wide deployment of 8e6's filtering and monitoring technology offers a comprehensive solution for 70,000 employees. The 8e6 solution offers centralized management, customizable filtering based on the specific needs of individual departments or user groups, and comes in an easy to deploy standalone appliance that can work with any existing network infrastructure.

About 8e6 Technologies

8e6 Technologies is a security company dedicated to Internet filtering and reporting. We are the only Web filtering company that uses a unique "pass-by technology" on a highly scalable appliance. Our standalone reporting appliance is easy to use and provides extremely detailed information, faster than any other product on the market. 8e6 helps protect its customers from all internal threats including spyware, malware, and Internet abuse leading to data loss and liability-while preventing bandwidth misuse. By preventing improper use of network resources and employee time, 8e6 also increases productivity and ensures regulatory compliance. Our standalone security solution achieves a dramatic reduction in the cost of hardware, subscriptions, maintenance, and support, and produces a substantially lower total cost of ownership. A Web filtering pioneer since 1995, the company maintains headquarters in Orange, California, with offices in Taipei and Beijing, as well as a network of channel partners worldwide. For more information, please call 888.786.7999 or visit www.8e6.com.