NetSTAR

TOKYO August 5th, 2008

This report presents the findings from the 5th “Survey of Office Internet Use,” conducted by NetSTAR Inc. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Noboru Ogawara; hereinafter “NetSTAR”), a developer of URL filtering product technologies and services, also involved in the collection, categorization, and delivery of URL lists.

NetSTAR has been conducting a series of surveys since 2004 to study the reality of office Internet use. The latest survey involved approximately 1,000 corporate and government employees. The findings can be largely summarized by the following three points.

(1) Private Internet use at work has declined since the last survey, but almost 50% admitted to downloading software without approval.
While the majority of the participants responded that they use the Internet for private use “Almost every day,” the number of employees that admitted to private use, as well as the frequency of private use, both declined by about 10 percentage points since the last survey (August 2006). It can be presumed that compliance with the Personal Information Protection Law and the enforcement of internal control had a degree of effect on the figures. On the other hand, 46.8% responded “Yes” to whether they have downloaded software at work without approval. Furthermore, about 20% are oblivious to which website they download the software from, leaving concerns for possible exposures to malicious code.

(2) Employees’ awareness and behavior are affected greatly by implementing a policy on Internet use.
The percentage of employees that consider private Internet use to be “Not a problem as long as it does not interfere with work” was lower for offices that had an Internet use policy. The number of employees that have used the Internet for private use during work was also about 20 percentage points lower in the presence of an Internet use policy.

(3) Of the employees that work in offices with web filtering, over 70% have experienced access restriction to “Websites not required for work.”
Of the respondents that work in an office with a web filtering service in place, 73.4% "Have experienced access restriction.” 38% also responded that they have experienced access restriction to “Websites required for work.” In the latter case, many of the restricted sites were bidirectional sites such as SNS and blogs. While the employees consider these sites to be “Websites required for work,” the system administrators tend to restrict access to these sites in order to minimize information leakage risks.

In overview, while the survey provided evidence for the effectiveness of implementing and disseminating a policy on Internet use, it has also revealed a need for a clear standard on downloads. Furthermore, the survey revealed that when introducing a web filtering service, the benefits of bidirectional websites should be evaluated for each work place, and be properly followed through, for example by using the “allow viewing, restrict posting” feature of the filtering product.
NetSTAR will utilize the findings of the survey for R&D and educational activities pertaining to web filtering, and continue to contribute to establishing a safer Internet environment.

■ Survey Background
Uncontrolled web access by employees is becoming a large management risk for an organization. The latest survey aimed to reveal the reality of office Internet use, so as to clarify the needs for network management in the business scene.

■ Survey Method
Under the request of NetSTAR, Macromill, Inc. conducted an online survey on July 7 and 8, 2008. The respondent body was comprised of office Internet users in the age groups of 20s to 60s. 1,030 valid responses were collected.

■ Primary Findings and Comments (Graphs in Japanese only)

<Private Use>
▼ While the majority still use the Internet for private use “Almost every day,” usage dropped by about 10 percentage points since the last survey
-64.8% responded "Yes" to whether they use the Internet privately at work. This is a drop of about 10 percentage points from 78.2% in the last survey, conducted 2 years ago (July 2006). The amount of private use tends to be lower for offices with of an Internet use policy. (See Graphs 1 and Graphs 2.)
-For the frequency of private use, the largest respondent body at 57% responded with “Almost every day.” This figure has also dropped about 10 percentages points from 70.9% in the last survey (July 2006). The survey further revealed that the frequency of private Internet use tends to be lower for offices with web filtering. (See Graphs 3 and Graphs 4.)

▼ Primary reason for private use is “Instant gratification,” primary content is “News and weather”
-83.2% of the respondents listed “Instant gratification” as their reason for private Internet use, followed by 56.5% for “Taking a break” and 28.8% for “Need for private use happens to collide with work hours.” (See Graph 5)
-“Lunch break” topped the timing for private use at 52.5%. On the other hand, 10.3% responded with “During work.” (See Graph 6)
-74.2% listed “News, weather, and sports” as the content viewed during private use, followed by 71.4% for “Research unrelated to work” and 34.6% for “Webmail.” Use of webmail and bidirectional sites (SNS and blogs) tend to be more popular in smaller organizations. (See Graphs 7 and Graphs 8.)
▼ Over 40% use SNS and blogs from work for 20 minutes or longer every day
-With regards to SNS and blogs, 88% “View”, 50.9% “Comment,” and 55.6% “Update” from work. In comparison to the last survey, the figure increased slightly for “View” and decreased slightly for “Update.” (See Graph 9)
-For the duration of use for SNS and blogs, 44.4% responded with “20 minutes or longer every day,” followed by “10 to 20 minutes every day” at 17.6% and “5 to 10 minutes every day” at 13%. The survey revealed that the majority access the sites every day. (See Graph 10)
▼ Webmail is used primarily for private reasons
- 83.5% listed “For private exchanges” as their reason for using webmail at work. “To access work-related data from home” was listed by 28.1%, down approximately 20 percentage points since the last survey (July 2006). With respect to organization size, “For private exchanges” was popular in offices with 1,000 or more employees, while “To access work-related data from home” was popular in offices with 300 to 1,000 employees. (See Graphs 11 and Graphs 12.)
▼ Video sharing sites are used primarily “To search for something fun” or by referral
- Of those that use video sharing sites, 64.3% listed “To search for something fun” as their reason for use, followed by “Referral by an article” at 51.8% and “Referral by an acquaintance” at 46.4%. (See Graph 13)

<Downloads>
▼ Over 40% have downloaded software at one’s own discretion
- 46.8% responded “Yes” to whether they have downloaded software at work without approval. The percentage of “No” was slightly higher for offices with web filtering. (See Graphs 14 and Graphs 15.)
▼ Reason for not downloading: “Not necessary” for small & medium businesses, “Restricted by policy” for large businesses
-Of the employees who have not downloaded software at work, the primary reason was “Not necessary” for small & medium businesses, while “Restricted by policy” topped the list for large businesses. In offices with web filtering, “Restricted by policy” and “No access” was notable amongst the responses. (See Graphs 16, Graphs 17, Graphs 18.)

<Internet Use Policies>
▼ Implementation of an Internet use policy greatly dependent on organization size
-57.5% responded “Yes” to whether their office has an Internet use policy. This is more or less on par with the result of the last survey. It can be seen that progress is slow for the institution of a policy in small & medium businesses. (See Graphs 19 and Graphs 20.)
-Of the employees working for an office with a policy on Internet use, 77.9% responded that there is a filtering service in place. For organizations with “Less than 30 employees,” 58.3% of offices with a policy and 11.7% of offices without a policy use web filtering. A similar trend was observed for larger organizations, indicating that organizations with an Internet use policy also tend to use web filtering for network management. (See Graphs 21 and Graphs 22.)

<Effect of Policy on Employee Awareness of Private Use>
▼ Policies and filtering affects employee awareness of private use
-At 55.1%, the majority of respondents-consider private Internet use to be “Not a problem as long as it does not interfere with work.” In comparison to the last survey (July 2006), responses for “Not too respectable” increased slightly. (See Graph 23)
-In offices with an Internet use policy, greater percentages of employees consider private Internet use to be “Problematic” or “Not too respectable.” Furthermore, employees working in an office with web filtering tend to think contrary to “Not a problem as long as it does not interfere with work.” It is evident that Internet use policies and web filtering has a certain degree of effect on the employee awareness of private Internet use. (See Graphs 24 and Graphs 25.)

<Effect of Policy on Employee Awareness of Downloads>
▼ Policies and filtering affects employee awareness of downloading and “Download source selection”
-At 83.8%, “Search engine” topped the list of where the respondent learned of the downloaded content. Of the download sites used, “Software download sites” was the most popular choice regardless of the purpose. “Business-operated download sites” was the popular choice for “Business use”, while “Non-business download sites” was popular for “Private use.” (See Graphs 26 and Graphs 27.)
-When asked how they selected the download site, “A business-operated site seems safe” was the popular response. However, about 20% responded that they have “Never thought about criteria for selection.” The percentage for “Never thought about criteria for selection” or “No particular reason” was slightly higher in offices without web filtering. (See Graphs 28 and Graphs 29.)
-As with private Internet use, greater percentages of employees consider unapproved downloading to be “Problematic” or “Not too respectable” in offices with an Internet use policy and/or filtering. (See Graphs 30, Graphs 31, Graphs 32.)

<Effect of Web Access Management on Employee Awareness>
▼ Majority of respondents working in an office with web filtering have experienced access restriction; employees of small & medium businesses note that they “Feel protected”
-Of the employees working in an office with web filtering, 73.4% responded “Yes” to whether they have experienced access restriction. Of the restricted websites, 38% were “Websites required for work” and 81% were “Websites not required for work.” (See Graph 33)
-The most common reaction to restricted access to “Websites not required for work” was “Inconvenient.” Further investigation based on organization size revealed that a greater percentage of employees “Feel protected” in smaller organizations. (See Graphs 34 and Graphs 35.)
-At 35%, “Forums, blogs, SNS” was the most commonly restricted of the “Websites required for work,” followed by 26% for “News sites” and 24% for “Webmail.” This result indicates that in offices with web filtering, sites that allow transmission of information may be restricted to minimize the risk of information leakage, while some employees consider such websites to be necessary for work. It should also be noted that 69% “Gave up on accessing a website required for work, due to a cumbersome filter removal process.” (See Graphs 36 and Graphs 37.)

■About NetSTAR, Inc.
NetSTAR specializes in the development of URL filtering engine, and in the collection, categorization, and delivery of URL lists. Its URL lists boast the largest market share in Japan for corporate filtering products, at well over 40%, and are also used widely for home filtering services. Over the years, NetSTAR has gained much recognition for the quality and reliability of its collection/categorization and publishing processes. Its URL lists have been adopted by all mobile phone operators in Japan, and is the de facto industry standard.
For more information, visit http://www.netstar-inc.com/.