GFI releases monitor to block staff web voyeurism

Stan Beer
Sunday, 11 September 2005 08:26

Your IT - Entertainment

Security vendor, GFI Asia Pacific, has released an access control plug-in for Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server to allow real time monitoring of the sites users are browsing and the files they are downloading.

The new GFI product includes a new real-time online adult content filter, Yahoo! SafeSearch - Strict Mode, which checks sites for the presence of objectionable material such as pornographic images, offensive words and links to adult-oriented sites. If a site is found to be offensive, ISA Server blocks access to it. Through the joint capabilities of Yahoo! SafeSearch and GFI WebMonitor, one's site filter list is automatically updated whenever a user tries to access an adult site - even if the site is not yet in the existing filter list.

The product, GFI WebMonitor 3, can scan downloads for viruses, perform proactive content filtering - such as preventing. or disconnecting, access to adult sites - and block files based on type.

The advantage being spruked by GFI is that its product is totally transparent to the user. This enables network administrators to unobtrusively exercise a degree of control over users' browsing habits and ensure legal compliance in a manner that will not alienate network users. The undetectable tool enables administrators to monitor and stop any traffic that could compromise the company's network security, open it to legal liability, or jam the corporate bandwidth.

"Many companies exercise some control over users' web browsing habits - not only to ensure productive use of the Internet but also to safeguard users from objectionable sites and to ensure that downloads are virus-free," said Andre Muscat, GFI product manager. "The traditional full-blown web proxy filters are cumbersome to install/administer and expensive to buy, while log file analyzers are awkward to use and do not allow for real-time monitoring and blocking. A tool like GFI WebMonitor provides instantaneous Internet access control in an easy-to-use and cost effective manner."

So it looks like naughty work web visits will soon be a no-go zone for 9 to 5 voyeurs whether they like it or not.