Passing your company security policy

This is a great article by VAUHINI VARA. He highlighted a very important problem and the weakest link in the IT Security which is the human behavior. The company start to build its security policy and security controls but employees always looking for bypassing these policies. Also this video from Mark Lobel of PricewaterhouseCoopers describes the most common things employees do on the internet to jeopardize company security.

1. How to send giant files?

Use online services such as YouSendIt Inc., SendThisFile Inc. and Carson Systems Ltd.'s DropSend, which let you send large files.

2. How to use software the your company won’t let you download?

There are two easy ways around this: finding Web-based alternatives or bringing in the software on an outside device..

The first is easier. Say your company won't let you download the popular AOL Instant Messenger program, from Time Warner Inc.'s AOL unit. You can still instant-message with colleagues and friends using a Web-based version of the service called AIM Express (AIM.com/aimexpress.adp).

The other approach to this problem is more involved but gives you access to actual software programs on your computer. There is a company called Rare Ideas LLC (RareIdeas.com), which offers free versions of popular programs such as Firefox and OpenOffice. You can download the software onto a portable device like an iPod or a USB stick, through a service called Portable Apps (PortableApps.com). Then hook the device up to your work computer, and you're ready to go. (But if your company blocks you from using external devices, you're out of luck.)

3. How to visit websites your company blocks?

By using proxy web sites -- so you can see the site without actually visiting it. Proxy.org, for one, features a list of more than 4,000 proxies. Another way to use Google's translation service, asking it to do an English-to-English translation.

4. How to clear your tracks on your work Laptop?

5. How to search for your work documents from home?

First, you'll need to set up a Google account on both machines by visiting Google.com/accounts. (Be sure to use the same account on both computers.) Then go to Desktop.Google.com to download the search software. When it's up and running -- again, do this on both machines -- click on Desktop Preferences, then Google Account Features. From there, check the box next to Search Across Computers. After that point, any document you open on either machine will be copied to Google's servers -- and will be searchable from either machine.

6. How to store work files online?

Use an online-storage service from the likes of Box.net Inc., Streamload Inc. or AOL-owned Xdrive. (Box.net also offers its service inside the social-networking site Facebook.). Another guerrilla storage solution is to email files to your private, Web-based email account, such as Gmail or Hotmail.

7. How to keep your privacy when using webemail?

When checking email, add an "s" to the end of the "http" in front of your email provider's Web address -- for instance, https://www.Gmail.com. This throws you into a secure session, so that nobody can track your email. Not all Web services may support this, however.

To encrypt IM conversations, meanwhile, try the IM service Trillian from Cerulean Studios LLC, which lets you connect to AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and others -- and lets you encrypt your IM conversations so that they can't be read.

8. How to access your work email remotely when your company won’t spring for a Blackberry?

In Microsoft Outlook, you can do this by right-clicking on any email, choosing Create Rule, and asking that all your email be forwarded to another address. Then, set up your hand-held to receive your personal email, by following instructions from the service provider for your hand-held.

9. How to access your personal email on your Blackberry?

10. How to look like you are working?

Hit Alt-Tab to quickly minimize one window and maximize another.

Reference: The Wall Street Journal