Are Corporate IT Departments Going Too Far With Content Filtering/Blocking?

geekcohen on 01/10/2024 - 16:28
Last edited 01/10/2024 - 16:33

I am currently dealing with a big insurance company that has a painfully annoying corporate IT block on viewing content. I am trying to provide photos and videos for an insurance claim because their assessor/builder did a "remote inspection" via video/phone call but didn't do a very good job, so photos have been requested from me. I don't mind doing that. But trying to get the content to them has become painful!

I have tried Dropbox, Google Drive, and even my own domain site to get them photos and videos. We are talking 350MB of files; these are not something you can easily send via email.

I know that early on, when email scams were new, Dropbox and Google Drive were blocked to stop scammers from providing links to fake invoices, but surely people are a little more educated now, and there are approvals/processes in place to try to avoid money scams.

What have you found to work as an alternative when having this issue? I thought that on my own domain would've worked, but it didn't.

Internet

Comments

curtturtle on 03/10/2024 - 15:51

+1

I work in digital and social media marketing and have worked at companies that block access to social media. It is amazing how many put up a fight when you explain that you need access to social media to do your job.
isthisreallife22 on 03/10/2024 - 22:14

The Medibank data leak was contributed to by an employee opening a dodgy file that came in through an unsanctioned source I believe. Im sure this insurance company don't want to be in that same boat…
eddyah on 03/10/2024 - 22:15

-2

Yes IT people are becoming fascists with technology and limiting what a user can do on a computer.

I think of it as malware as it does a bunch of dodgy stuff like man-in-the-middle attacks, under the guise of corporate data protection.
- gromit on 04/10/2024 - 08:31
  
  +2
  
  IT people are being charged with protecting morons within the organisation that will open files from random websites, emails and shares provided by just as clueless customers, which can risk the entire businesses survivability and reputation. Everyone is happy to blame IT for being strict and then twice as quick to blame them when a moron shows why they are so strict.
  - eddyah on 04/10/2024 - 19:06
    
    -2
    
    Lol I wonder if anyone was called a moron for putting crowdstrike on a bunch of machines and having to manually rescue each one.
    
    Some people go bowling and put the safety rail up.
    
    Others don't need it and can learn how to play properly.
    
    I suspect your company and culture dictates you…mindset like this.
    - gromit on 04/10/2024 - 21:26
      
      You sound like exactly the sort person tgese rules exist for lol.
      - eddyah on 05/10/2024 - 21:40
        
        -2
        
        @gromit: Not really - i'm actually quite computer literate and build my own linux machines and run my employers entire cloud AWS setup. I know security better than most and I'm a hands on developer that actually builds.
        
        You sound like a bureaucrat from canberra that plays along with the nanny state rules to make sure we all are bubble-wrapped for our own 'safety'.
        
        If you think that 'content filtering' or effectively doing a man-in-the-middle attack to decrypt all traffic leaving a PC is a good thing - that breaks the damn security that was setup by people much smarter than yourself.
        
        Search Alice and Bob and understand how public key infrastructure works, you bureaucrat.
        
        gromit on 05/10/2024 - 21:52
        
        @eddyah: Pull the other one. Lol. No one computer literate would be so completely ignorant. FYI i have worked in cyber security for nearly 2 decades now. Perhaps go and learn a few of the basics before sprouting bs you dont understand.
        
        eddyah on 07/10/2024 - 22:45
        
        +1
        
        @gromit: 'worked in cyber security for 20 years' - e.g. installing norton antivirus on PCs since 2004.
        
        sure thing mate you smart.
Ragnarok1983 on 03/10/2024 - 23:15

+1

Yes name and shame. RACV's shitty online system can only accept 30MBs for dashcam footage which is totally inadequate for 2024…

They also do not accept
Youtube
Microsoft One Drive
Dropbox
Google Drive
In person drop off at RACV store

First time i had to send in a USB stick, which they gave the wrong address. Then had to send via registered post to another address.

I made them reimburse me for the Auspost Postage out of principle.
overthinking on 04/10/2024 - 09:19

+3

Are Corporate IT Departments Going Too Far With Content Filtering/Blocking?

To answer that question - no. Cyber Security is incredibly serious.

Companies should have some kind of secure/encrypted portal, but hey, that a) costs money and b) doesn't make them money.
stealthpaw on 04/10/2024 - 12:49

+3

OP just ask the company for what to use.
IT have these rules for a reason and are not going to make an exception because one or two customers/clients have different infrastructure, particularly when they don't know how good their Cyber Security is.
- Roentgenium on 04/10/2024 - 18:19
  
  This.
  
  There will be a corporately endorsed tool for large file sharing, even if the person you’re speaking to doesn’t know it.
prodrome on 04/10/2024 - 15:29

-1

That is their problem not yours.
Davo1111 on 05/10/2024 - 08:54

-1

Their problem. Not yours
cerealJay on 14/10/2024 - 02:26

Even though your problem may be solved… the solution to sending all those images is to place all your photos and videos on a basic HTML web page, and send the insurance company a link to your web page.

That way, they don't need to "download" anything that triggers their internal threat detection.

plenty of free hosting for simple and temporary html pages. Github pages, Amazon, Google Cloud, Dropbox, Fastmail, many services both free and paid.

Are Corporate IT Departments Going Too Far With Content Filtering/Blocking?

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