P2P prevalent in big business

By Simon Aughton

Posted on 17 Jul 2003 at 14:42

A survey by Canadian company AssetMetrix of more than 560 companies has found that 77 per cent had PCs running peer-to-peer applications.

The company surveyed more than 175,000 computers and found that some companies have P2P applications on as many as 58 per cent, with firms that have more than 500 PCs guaranteed to have at least one running Internet file sharing software.

The problems posed by P2P software on corporate networks are threefold, claims AssetMetrix. First their is the question of legality and the possibility that companies could face legal action from bodies such as the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for copyright infringement by their employees. The second is the security risk posed by P2P viruses. Many virus writers are well aware of the popularity of such services and often create viruses that copy themselves into the shared folders that offer content to these networks. Of the 70 currently known, about half have the ability to destroy files, eliminate anti-virus apps, initiate DDOS (distributed denial of service) and give hackers access. Thirdly, P2P file sharing can eat into network bandwidth, restricting access for legitimate traffic.

AssetMetrix's motives for carrying out the survey may not be entirely altruistic. The company is pushing its P2P-Tracker software which seeks out P2P applications on corporate networks. Further details are available from www.assetmetrix.com/solutions/p2p.