Monday, June 4, 2007

Are you blocked from YouTube?

YouTube iconI have received reports that access to YouTube is "blocked according to ABB IS Security policies" for some users when they try to access the site while on the corporate network.This is the first time I have heard anyone having security issues with YouTube and the like. Obviously there may be a network capacity issue if employees were sitting around idle watching funny videos on YouTube all day, but security?

In the real world YouTube is fast becoming a critical business tool. There is lot of valuable information available at that site and the ABB organization is also actively using YouTube to post company videos. Many pages on our sites have embedded videos from YouTube, and it is obviously a pity if some of our own employees cannot watch them.

All of the blocking reports I have received are from Scandinavia, i.e. Sweden, Finland and Norway. YouTube works fine from Switzerland, Germany, US etc. Do we have a different security policy for different countries in ABB?

The blocking messages I have seen contain a (Swedish) phone number "In case of questions please contact the IS security Manager at +46 21 323 XXX." If you get this message on your screen I suggest you call that number and ask for an explanation. Maybe that will help us understand why this policy has been implemented?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm working in ABB Sace Italy and we are blocked on YouTube.
We see on our screen:
WEBSENSE
Your organization's Internet use policy restricts access to this web page at this time.

What do you suggest?

Many thanks
Massimo

Stein-Ivar said...

I would start by asking local IS why this is so. If you find the answer less than satisfactory, you should raise it with your management, pointing out the business value of YouTube and showing them some examples.

Anonymous said...

You Tube and Flickr are "banned" from corporate access mainly for bandwidth reasons.

Do not stress , your competitors are doing the same thing.

Rolf Lindström said...

In ABB Sweden, YouTube and similar media streaming sites, like Google Video, Joost.com, and Pandora.com are blocked. I suppose the reasons are to avoid bandwidth load and "you should watch these kind of things on your free time". But to claim that it's a security issue is not really correct.

Anonymous said...

I know and understand the "bandwidth reasons" but is it possible to open these sites only for a group of people?
There aren't possibility to customize the firewalls?
For example is a "not sense" that the communication offices are not able to see some web sites.

Oscar Frykholm said...

Now it suddenly works - the block on these sites has been lifted! In Sweden at least.

Anonymous said...

Youtube sucks if you want to post the realities of the posted videos from all viewpoints. The website owner probably bans all palestinian input. I posted some inaccuracies about a video called Utribe , about Barbie Dolls and diamonds, under the promised land/special people philosophy, They changed the video to another name, and I actually receiced death threats, then I was banned from youtube. All my comments had valid premise and were based on objective logic. The bandwidth reality exposes the intellectual shortcomings of the plan -vs-the reality

Anonymous said...

youtube the boobtube--stan iver to you too