MONITORING SOFTWARE BLOG

In the old days, protecting trade secrets was relatively straightforward. You kept many of these items on paper, locked up in special spots. Today’s environment is so different, it’s hard to know where to begin.

Companies worry a great deal about insider threats – the idea that any disgruntled employee or someone infiltrating the company’s physical or digital space is going to get their hands on trade secrets, customer information, financial details or anything else that can have a negative impact on the company’s operations and reputation.

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Are you concerned about government employee fraud (cheating for profit) and embezzlement (misappropriation of funds)? After all… it’s your tax dollars!

Insider threats are a part of any organization in government and industry. According to Transparency International in their latest Corruption Perceptions Index report on public sector corruption – over 68% of 180 countries failed a passing grade. The USA performed reasonably well (75/100 score), but is not without its own challenges.Read More

According to CIO DIVE “Insider Threats” are the #1 cybersecurity concern in 2018.

By definition, insider threats include any malicious attack on an organization from current or past employees, business associates or anyone with access to the company’s proprietary data that could be used against them in a detrimental way. Read More

A recent study by Captivate’s Office Pulse found that the 2018 Winter Olympics cost U.S. business $1.7 billion in lost productivity due to companies watching the games during work

Consider this scenario: Jane owns a profitable trading company of clothing lines imported from choice locations around the world. She has 23 employees and has been in business since 2002. Since her office staff of 10 are sitting at their computer all day conducting research and completing sales or customer service activity to keep production moving, so they are busy at their desk (or are they?). It’s a highly competitive industry that requires everyone make a full contribution in order for the company to prosper.Read More

SoftActivity announces the release of the SoftActivity TS Monitor version 5.5 – its user monitoring software for terminal servers.

This version brings new Alerts based on user actions. You can now get an email alert as soon as a user goes to certain websites, opens an undesirable application at work, or breaks other rules set by the company. It means less time spent monitoring, and instead taking action at the right time when it matters. We have also completely redesigned the web console to show more information on a page and made it easier to navigate.

What’s new in version 5.5:

• new: Alerts based on user actions:
  • Admin can create a set of alert rules in the web console. If users break a rule, their manager or the admin will get an instant alert;
  • A number of useful pre-defined alert rules is supplied with the system, such as social media websites, files copied to USB, etc. so you can start getting some alerts right out of the box, and start adjusting those rules;
    
    * click to enlarge
  • Alerts can be based on: visited websites, used applications, typed trigger words (keystrokes), or file operations;
  • Alerts are displayed in the web console and optionally can be sent by email. Alert emails are not sent less than 5 minutes apart, to prevent “alert fatigue”. This interval can be adjusted in settings, in order to receive quicker alerts or to get less emails;
    
    * click to enlarge
  • In order to start receiving alerts by email, an admin needs to enter SMTP server details in the web console’s Admin Panel. SMTP is used by the system for sending emails securely. Also the admin and managers need to go to Edit Account and enter their name and email address, and make sure “I want to receive alerts by email” check box is on;
  • Managers can see what exactly action by a user has triggered an alert and see screenshots of the violation;
  • New Alerts page allows you to see all alerts (policy violations) in the system and filter them by users, computers, and days interval.
• new: Complete redesign of the web console with improved user interface:
  
  * click to enlarge
  • Fits more information on the screen and is easier to navigate.
  • Mobile friendly design: better support of mobile browsers on phones/tablets. View reports on your phone, if it’s connected to the local network, or if your webapp is installed on an Internet facing server and served via HTTPS;
  • Watch the demo video of new web console
• improved: reduced storage space requirements on the customer’s server for storing screenshots. IntelliSnap mode now records 20-50% less screenshots, will avoid some duplicates, but without missing any important actions by a user;
• improved: deleting a user in the web console now deletes their screenshots as well to save hard drive space. You can delete a user with all their data in Admin Panel – Monitored Users tab – User
• fix: removed Keystrokes field from CSV format export, since it was breaking CSV format;
• discontinued support of Windows Server 2003. Users with Windows Server 2003 are advised to upgrade to Windows Server 2016 or continue using TS Monitor version 5.3 (the last version that supports Server 2003).
• numerous improvements and fixes

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We at SoftActivity are excited to announce the release of Activity Monitor new version 11.5 that we’ve been working hard on. Activity Monitor is a leading user motioning software used by organizations around the world to combat insider threats and improve their employees’ productivity.

With this major update, you can now get an alert as soon as a user goes to certain websites, opens an application that is not allowed at work, or breaks other rules set by the company. It means less time spent monitoring, and instead taking action at the right time when it matters. We have also completely redesigned SoftActivity web console to fit in more information and made it easier to navigate.

What’s new in version 11.5:

• new: Alerts triggered by user actions:
  • Admin can create a set of alert rules in the web console. If a user breaks a rule, their manager or the admin will get an instant alert;
  • A number of useful pre-defined alert rules are supplied with the system, such as social media websites, files copied to USB, so you can start getting some alerts right out of the box, and start adjusting those rules;
    
    * click to enlarge
  • Alerts can be based on: visited websites, used applications, typed trigger words (keystrokes), or file operations;
  • Alerts are displayed in the web console and optionally can be sent by email. Alert emails are not sent less than 5 minutes apart, to prevent “alert fatigue”. This interval can be adjusted in settings, in order to receive quicker alerts or to get less emails;
    
    * click to enlarge
  • In order to start receiving alerts by email, an admin needs to enter SMTP server details in the web console’s Admin Panel. SMTP is used by the system for sending emails securely. Also the admin and managers need to go to Edit Account and enter their name and email address, and make sure “I want to receive alerts by email” check box is on;
  • Managers can see what exactly action by a user has triggered an alert and see screenshots of the violation;
  • New Alerts page allows you to see all alerts (policy violations) in the system and filter them by users, computers, and days interval.
• new: Complete redesign of the web console with improved user interface:
  
  * click to enlarge
  • Fits more information on the screen and is easier to navigate.
  • Mobile friendly design: better support of mobile browsers on phones/tablets. View reports on your phone, if it’s connected to the local network, or if your webapp is installed on an Internet facing server and served via HTTPS;
  • Watch the demo video of new web console
• improved: reduced storage space requirements on the customer’s server for storing screenshots. IntelliSnap mode now records 20-50% less screenshots, will avoid some duplicates, but without missing any important actions by a user;
• improved: deleting a user in the web console now deletes their screenshots as well to save hard drive space. You can delete a user with all their data in Admin Panel – Monitored Users tab – User
• improved: support of slow network speed for connection with Agent, down to 8KB/s or slower, that may be the case for remote users connected via VPN. Previously slow connections could be dropped and it would not download logs;
• uninstaller: added option to remove the data folder, in order to free drive space;
• improved: show correct icon and application name for Windows Store Apps;
• fix: removed Keystrokes field from CSV format export, since it was breaking CSV format;
• numerous improvements and fixes
• discontinued support of Windows XP by Agent. Users with Windows XP are advised to upgrade to Windows 10 or continue using Activity Monitor version 11.2 (the last version that supports it).

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SoftActivity released new version 5.3 of TS Monitor, its user monitoring solution for terminal servers. This is a maintenance release.

What’s new in SoftActivity TS Monitor 5.3:

• new: support of the latest versions of Chrome browser for Internet recording, which stopped working since Chrome v65;
• fix: export to Excel (CSV format) in correct encoding for non-English characters;
• other minor fixes and improvements

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