Effective Methods for Tracking Browsing Activities of Employees

Employee monitoring tools are special software designed to capture all workers' activities on the computer. Its features typically include:

1. capturing visited websites
2. tracking activity on social media
3. recording search queries
4. screenshots
5. keyboard logging
6. tracking clipboard activity
7. monitoring external devices, such as USB drives and printers
8. screen recording, and more.

Employee monitoring software keeps an accurate record of all websites visited by employees, including the time and duration of the visit. The collected data can be viewed as a chronological log or as graphic charts highlighting the top-used websites, social media, and chats. These charts help reveal distractions and potentially dangerous websites at a glance.

In addition to tracking features, employee monitoring tools have built-in site blockers. The manager can limit employee access to unproductive or unwanted websites to help them focus on work tasks and ensure company data security.

Employee monitoring software is usually more user-friendly than network monitoring options. Some programs do not require an IT specialist to be installed and work "out of the box." This advantage makes employee monitoring programs a viable option for smaller companies that do not have a dedicated IT department.

CleverControl  is a reliable solution for tracking browsing activities. It logs all visited websites and search queries with timestamps in the most popular browsers, including Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and others. Additionally, CleverControl will make a screenshot of each visited site.

The program also has analytical features, highlighting the most used websites and social media, the overall time spent on them, and the usage dynamics. The recently introduced AI Scoring feature will compare this activity with industry benchmarks and reveal distractions and unproductive activities. These distracting websites can be blocked directly from the CleverControl dashboard by URL, keyword, or category. CleverControl is easy to install and has a clear intuitive interface, which makes it one of the most powerful and user-friendly solutions on the market.

Network monitoring involves tracking network activity and internet traffic using router configuration, firewalls, proxy servers, and monitoring tools. It allows employers to log IP addresses, track browsing activity, measure bandwidth usage, and identify potential security threats in real time. Methods of network monitoring are more complicated and require technical knowledge to implement. At the same time, they allow tracking online activity on a deeper level.

Organizations can configure routers to track all network activity, such as visited websites and bandwidth usage, on all connected devices, including wireless connections.

To configure the router, one should find the router's IP address, enter it in a browser, and log in to the administration settings. There, one should look for an option called "Log" or something similar and enable it. Once enabled, the router will start recording Internet activities.

Firewalls and proxy servers are other methods organizations use to monitor and control Internet activity.

Proxy servers act as intermediaries between users and the Internet. When an employee tries to access a website, the request first goes through the proxy server. The proxy server can then:

1. log the visited websites;
2. filter and block access to inappropriate or non-work-related websites or categories of websites;
3. generate detailed internet activity logs for further review.

Firewalls work similarly, acting as a guardian for network traffic. They can be configured to:

1. block specific IP addresses or domains;
2. monitor and control which applications can access the Internet;
3. inspect the contents of network traffic for potential security threats.

Proxy servers and firewalls have an effective method called DNS filtering at their core. Imagine a librarian deciding which books (websites) are okay to access - this is DNS filtering. When an employee tries to visit a website, the system checks if it's on the approved list. If not, access is blocked.

Although the described methods are technically possible, organizations should consider the legal and ethical implications of implementing tracking of browsing activity. Monitoring employees' online activity secretly can ruin their trust, create a hostile atmosphere, and lead to legal consequences. In our recent article, we discussed the best practices for implementing monitoring without compromising employee trust.

Tracking employees' browsing activity is essential for keeping productivity high and security risks low. For this purpose, modern organizations use employee monitoring software and network monitoring. While network monitoring can track employees' online activity on a deeper level, employee monitoring software not only tracks but also analyzes such activity, highlighting the most used sites and unproductive activities. Whichever method you choose, it is important to remember the ethical side of monitoring and privacy regulations in your area.