Uncontrolled and unmonitored internet access is not only a serious security risk to organisations but can also lead to increased productivity costs and time-wasting. Management needs to be aware of what their employees are doing online - even more so if their online activity is non-work related.

As part of its recently launched "We Care" initiative, GFI Software is giving firms the ability to monitor web browsing in their organisation in real-time through its freeware version of GFI WebMonitor.

"Very few organisations realise how beneficial monitoring employee activity on the internet can be. They will not only gain in terms of increased productivity, as renowned time-and-motion experiments have shown, but they are also immediately aware of any browsing activity that is either inappropriate or in breach of company policy," GFI's CEO Walter Scott explained. "The latest version of GFI WebMonitor 2009 for ISA Server includes real-time web browsing monitoring as Freeware because we believe that once organisations see for themselves the benefits of monitoring, they will want to start taking action."

The commercial version of GFI WebMonitor allows users not only to view web browsing activity in the organisation, but also to block access to sites on an individual or group level. The latest release of GFI WebMonitor also includes a new feature: hidden downloads checking. This feature will block and identify background processes from downloading payloads that may be malicious in nature or use up network resources.

GFI WebMonitor allows administrators to manage what sites users can browse and block access to websites in particular categories, such as adult, online gaming, personal e-mail, P2P, Facebook, MySpace, travel websites and more. Web monitoring is made easy with WebGrade, an extensive database that provides URL coverage for 165,000,000 domains and that is continuously updated.

www.gfi.com/webmonitor