There is a reason companies keep their use of Silent Runner hushed, much the way the software monitors employees and networks undetected and unseen. Not wanting to draw attention to itself, particularly from hackers, the security program relies on its stealth.

And few companies understand industrial-strength stealth better than SilentRunner's creator, giant defense contractor Raytheon.

But SilentRunner is drawing criticism from privacy advocates who say that the right to remain anonymous and criticize an employer should not be jeopardized simply because a company has the technology to listen in.

Silent Watcher

Used increasingly by both business and government to monitor employees, networks and threats, SilentRunner collects information throughout a computer network in any language or coding.

The sophisticated program, which can recognize more than 1,400 protocols, analyzes e-mail, Web pages, digital or music files, word documents, instant messaging passwords and more.

Touted as better than other commercial "sniffer" programs and more comprehensive than even the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's much-criticized Carnivore, SilentRunner analyzes information from 25 different angles, using algorithms instead of key words.

"It greatly assists with decoding and analysis," SilentRunner director of marketing Patrice Bourgeois told NewsFactor Network. "We can do a 100 kilobyte file in a one screen presentation."

Privacy Policy

However, the fact that such a sophisticated and comprehensive tool is so hard to detect worries some privacy advocates, who argue that the monitoring could easily go too far.

Electronic Frontier Foundation director of public policy Lauren Gelman told NewsFactor that companies are increasingly using technology that infringes on privacy rights. She characterized SilentRunner as "a piece of technology with a broad range of applications, from low-level monitoring that would be considered totally acceptable, to beyond the scope of even what the law allows."

Added Gelman: "The issue becomes, how much value is there in making technology available that could be used to eliminate even legally protected rights in the workplace."

Framing the Debate

Bourgeois disagreed, telling NewsFactor that SilentRunner is simply a tool, and that the debate about privacy issues should revolve around the policies of the companies that use the program.

"This is probably the least intrusive because it clusters like things," Bourgeois said. "It's a quick tool. It's really not that intrusive, compared with the other security methodologies out there."

Fast Runner

Released last summer, SilentRunner has been sold to nearly 150 companies and government agencies eager to bolster security and tighten their control of company secrets and assets.

Still, only a couple of companies -- security snoop TruSecure and the consulting firm of Deloitte and Touche -- have admitted using the program, which ranges in price from US$25,000 to $65,000 per copy.

Bourgeois said the government agencies, technology, finance and pharmaceutical companies that use SilentRunner focus on network anomalies, misuse, risk assessment and computer forensics.

Up to Them

"We've had success and the uses are varied," Bourgeois told NewsFactor. "I'd say that 80 percent of the clients use the product for protection of intellectual property and confidential data ."

Bourgeois again stressed the importance of the individual privacy and other policies of SilentRunner customers, who would usually retain the right to read every outgoing e-mail regardless of what security software they use.

"We don't provide security or legal advice to our clients," she said. "It's a tool."

While companies using SilentRunner are likely to continue keeping it under wraps, the number of employees and networks being monitored will continue to increase as security issues become increasingly critical.