Greynet Research Study 2006

Internet communications have evolved from point-to-point channels such as email to real-time, presence-oriented communications like IM, P2P file sharing, Skype, and web conferencing. FaceTime terms these real-time communications applications 'greynets' - defined as network-enabled applications that are often downloaded and installed by the end user without the permission or knowledge of the IT department and use highly evasive techniques to circumvent the existing security infrastructure.

Greynet Research Study 2006

In July 2006, FaceTime commissioned NewDiligence, an independent market research company, to conduct it's 2nd annual survey on the growth and impact of greynets. As in the prior year, the research was conducted among a large sample of corporate IT managers and end users across all size organizations in North America, UK and Europe. The research study includes compiled data from 778 IT managers and 385 end users. Key findings can be found below.

Request the complete results of the 2006 Greynet Research Study.

Impact on Business:

• Eight in ten IT managers are at locations that have experienced a greynet-related attack within the last six months (81%).
• Incidents attributed to greynet usage have significant and measurably negative impacts on business. IT managers report legal risks patterns of greynet usage as well as damages to network equipment personal computers. Greynet usage has financial implications because remediation, repair and prevention have direct labor costs.
• The number of greynet applications installed at a typical work location has increased dramatically in the past year. Work locations where eight or more greynet applications are in use have doubled in the past 12 months, growing from 20% of locations one year ago to 41% today.

Employee Use:

• Employees use IM for a variety of reasons, including convenience, speed and for work productivity. But as the boundary between work and personal space erodes, the use of corporate PCs for personal communications is increasingly common: 70% of end users have sent personal IMs from work
• One-fourth of end users use IM because it affords "private, unmonitored communications" (26%). Given the high reported incidence of downloading adult materials, the use of salacious language and similar risky behaviors, the desire of end users to avoid oversight signals a certain degree of business risk

IT Perspective:

• On average IT managers at large organizations report a monthly average of 14 greynet-related incidents that require repair of company PCs. This incident rate is closely correlated with company size: it is more than five times higher at the largest companies compared to the smallest (as measured by employee size)
• Only 11 percent of IT managers believe their network systems would have intercepted the kinds of sexually explicit IMs allegedly sent by former Congressman Foley. In fact, almost half (49%) rate their systems as "ineffective" with one-third giving the lowest rating—"not at all effective" (31%)

End User Attitudes Toward Greynets

Greynet Attacks are Widespread

Monthly Frequency/Cost of Greynet-related Attacks

Source: FaceTime Greynets Research Study, November 2006