How do I control where my employees go on the internet?

Image by Michael Giuffrida for Computer securityThere are different reasons for a business owner to want to control where employees go on the internet when they are at work.  First off, you might want to make sure the way employees are spending their time is on business activities not personal ones.  To achieve this, you would have to restrict websites that people would use for personal use only.  One challenge here is that you might want to restrict use of a site like FaceBook, but some people might need that to do their job if they are in marketing.

A second reason to restrict how people use the internet from your business network is to make sure that your internet bandwidth (speed) is available to business applications when they need them.  For example you might not want employees streaming music, movies or sports utilizing the bandwidth that would otherwise be available to the cloud based application you use to process orders for your clients.

Lastly, you might want to restrict where people go on the internet to protect your network from malicious attacks and code.  If someone visits a site that is known for carrying malicious code they could bring a virus into your network.

One way to achieve all of these goals is using a web filtering software or device.  An inexpensive way for a small business to achieve this would be using a service such as OpenDNS.  Once configured properly, this web based service will examine employee internet usage ensuring that it adheres to the rules you have created.  You can purchase something like this on a per user subscription basis so there is not a large upfront cost giving you the opportunity to determine if it is right for your business.


Michael Giuffrida from Southington CT has been operating businesses since 1997.  He is an experienced entrepreneur in business management, profitable growth, business valuation, mergers and acquisitions, and information technology managed services

3 thoughts on “How do I control where my employees go on the internet?

  • So that is why I can’t watch golf channel..great information mike. You posts are very timely and useful

  • Web filtering is a helpful technical control to layer on to your staff’s cybersecurity awareness training. Blocking malicious sites greatly decreases the risk of a staff member inadvertently clicking on a malware link.

  • Good info! I do appreciate when employers demonstrate trust in their team (for example, not blocking music streaming while maintaining the expectation that their employees are focused and efficient). But I hadn’t thought about it in the context of bandwidth/capacity. Thanks for sharing!

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