The use of work computers to visit porn websites increases 600% during COVID-19

Since the use of work computer equipment to access pornographic content sites has increased by about 600% during the pandemic, a report by the cybersecurity company Netskope mentions. While many companies block adult content websites, other organizations are trying to find a more effective approach that warns of greater security risks.

According to Ray Canzanese, director of Netskope, many of the companies prefer not to block some sites, choosing to raise employee awareness so that they know the security risks associated with online search for adult content.

“Employee awareness will allow them to better understand the right protocol when using these kinds of sites from work computer equipment,” the report says. Canzanese mentions that many pornographic websites aren’t even that dangerous: From the point of view of cybersecurity, a blog on any topic can be much more dangerous than an.

Security specialists mention that a large number of threats are hosted on sites not covered by lists of potentially malicious sites that security companies often block; Personal blogs, music download sites and pirated material may contain severe threats. Traffic at these sites has also shown an unusual increase during the pandemic. 

Although companies used to block all kinds of content for employees to focus on their work, Canzanese mentions that things don’t work like this: “Many employees react to these measures unexpectedly, looking at all costs for ways to access prohibited content, increasing the risk of infection.”

The change of focus is necessary, as companies should allow employees to consider the risks themselves rather than encountering a strict ban: “Employees can use the same device for their work activities and for their daily lives, they should only know how to distinguish security risks related to adult websites or any other kind of dangerous platform” , concludes the investigation.