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P2P networks, once the province largely of music fans at
home, are popping up on corporate desktops everywhere. Music,
video, and other bandwidth hogging application clog networks
and expose corporations to breach of copyright litigation.
New P2P applications like Skype, the popular Voice over IP
program, offer potentially significant cost and productivity
benefits, yet many organization’s still require control and
visibility over their use.
P2P file sharing applications share one glaring problem -
they are opening up huge, unmonitored, network security holes:
- Grokster offers free, fast searching and downloads,
file previews and other apparently useful tools. Unfortunately
it also degrades network performance and silently installs
other less beneficial applications like Cydoor and Gator.
- Morpheus offers marketers the ability to track
visits to high profile shopping sites. However, while it's
doing so, it's installing a Web browser add-on that sends
users on an invisible Web detour to capture information
about surfing habits.
All of this poses a major challenge to IT departments - how
to let users benefit from advances in P2P technology while providing
a level of control and visibility that enables IT to block P2P
connections that may endanger network security.
Security Risks of P2P
Because P2P networks are installed on local client machines
and link directly to the Internet, those client machines are
wide open to abuse that's uncontrolled by standard information
security measures. The protocols used by these applications
are stealthy, often encrypting themselves or tunneling undetected
through open ports.
Over and above the potential for productivity loss and bandwidth
and storage resource abuse through employee usage of unauthorized
software, P2P networks can:
- Open up back doors into the network, allowing hackers
direct access to corporate assets and putting the organization
in breach of privacy legislation
- Enable the exchange of copyrighted material, rendering
the corporation vulnerable to breach of copyright lawsuits
- Overload network bandwidth with unauthorized file sharing
activities
- Allow bundled adware applications to be installed on
the network without the user's knowledge
Given the seriousness of the risks and the potential damage
to the organization that accompanies the uncontrolled use of
P2P networks, IT departments need a powerful tool that will
enable the productive use of P2P while protecting against their
intentional or unintentional abuse. Point products such as desktop
anti-virus or anti-spyware solutions don't have the range of
controls needed; Defense in Depth is the only way to allow access
to the beneficial aspects of P2P without endangering network
security.
P2P Control - The Solution
FaceTime offers the only end-to-end security solution that
empowers IT departments to control the use of P2P networks,
allowing organizations to:
- Prevent unauthorized P2P connections
- Easily detect and determine the validity of more than
100 P2P client variations and 18 P2P protocol groups
- Block unauthorized adware installations
- Ensure non-stop protection with the latest protocol
updates
- Mitigate business and security risk
- Obtain critical insight into bandwidth abuse, source
and destination IP addresses, and port abuse
Learn more about Unified Security Gateway,
FaceTime's P2P control and spyware prevention solution.
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FaceTime
P2P - Skype Control