The intense atmosphere of football over the next four weeks poses a significant risk of decreasing employee productivity, partly due to the “facilitation” of the Internet. Additionally, security experts warn everyone to remain vigilant whenever they click on links.
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| Image: VNUNet |
Staying up late to watch football, updating the latest news about teams, following commentary, or listening to expert predictions will make it difficult for employees to concentrate and may distract them from their work. Australian security company Marshal estimates that businesses in the country could waste approximately 12.5 million hours of work, resulting in losses of up to $290 million.
In addition to the event FIFAworldcup.com offering free 2-minute clips of matches, the online community also finds many other video sites to enjoy stunning goals and dribbles throughout the season.
“It is no surprise that the four weeks of the World Cup is the time when work efficiency hits its lowest point of the year“, Ed Macnair, CEO of Marshal, affirmed. Therefore, he advises companies to implement policies to restrict access to certain websites before lunchtime to avoid issues with broadband connectivity and productivity.
However, productivity is just the first threat that companies face. Several viruses and Trojans have been spread through spam to trick users into believing they are being introduced to one of many appealing World Cup websites.
British security firm Sophos has discovered at least two variants attempting to take advantage of this opportunity. The first virus, Haxdoor.IN, disguises itself as a World Cup schedule to create a backdoor for hackers to control computers. Although the email content is written in German, Sophos states that cybercriminals easily switch to other languages. Meanwhile, the Dropper.KG worm pretends to be an Excel spreadsheet file that helps track match results.
Joel Camissar, managing director of American security company Websense, advises everyone to be cautious of any attachments related to the World Cup, even links to the tournament displayed through Google search results.
