Web Filtering

[Peter]

but any school proxy should have P2P ports closed as a matter of course. If I went to a school that could use access torrents, P2P etc, I would be asking what the IT department are playing at!

 

Yes, you can block P2P & IM and such by the apps default port numbers within a firewall. But, the developers of these apps are deliberately making these apps evasive and sneaky with the intent to go through firewalls. Common techniques to circumvent port blocking is to tunnel P2P & IM data within common ports such as 80 and 25. Who will close port 25 when running a mail server? P2P apps also use encrytion to make identification difficult. Skype is the most evasive and difficult app to stop to date. For example, Skype uses a https request in its preamble on the basis that most firewalls will allow https request. Why should we block Skype some say? Well its an undocumented protocol, closed protocol and can consume lots of bandwidth when running as a supernode. Also, the file transfer bit cuts right through most firewalls and therefore is a major security threat. Plus, who really knows apart from Skype development team what the program is really doing?

 

Other techniques include tunneling to external proxies and there are several companies offering a commercial service specifically to evade firewalls and security. Hopster is one service.

 

Preventing P2P and apps that are deliverately evasive is not easy and several P2P apps such as the new version of BitComet openly brag about evading certain expensive brand solutions - Packeteer. Also, as I mentioned in earlier post chat channels are now distributing lists for sharing files via bots.

 

It all makes securing an internet connection interesting and there's always something new to learn.

[E1uSiV3]

Kids can easily run a copy of bitcomet or blubster P2P (executable file) client on their USB sticks and get easy access to content most would find offensive.

 

Only if you allow them to run executables from removable devices in the first place... Perfect example of what software restriction policies are for.

[jonny_valentine]

I have a head teacher who is unhappy as while searching "welsh dragons cartoon pictures" in google came across some sites advertising porn/sex etc.

 

The sites were blocked but you could still see the Blurb about the sites i.e."cum here to see naked fcuk pics" etc etc.

 

Anyone use any soft that prevents sites with these words from being displayed ?

 

 

Hi,

 

Check this image out: http://www.imperosoftware.com/images/impero3.gif

 

Its the blocking system of the software we use in the schools i work at. You can easily block anything. For example, block 'fuck', 'porn' and so on and Impero will detect that in the page somewhere and not show it.

 

And again with the self advertising See here

 

 

 

DMcCoy : If i wanted to advertise, dont you think I would have signed up with some random name? I am simply adding my opinion and answering the topic.

There are many people on this forum recommending software to solve peoples problems, I am also recommending Impero because it does exactly what the person asks for.

[MkII]

Self advertising is only aceptable if you're not making a profit from it IMHO. If you have an interest: meaning you will be taking a buck - that means your opinion is heavily coloured and therefore invalid.

[jonny_valentine]

Self advertising is only aceptable if you're not making a profit from it IMHO. If you have an interest: meaning you will be taking a buck - that means your opinion is heavily coloured and therefore invalid.

 

I would agree, but I came to this forum for an answer to a problem i have, saw the post above and thought, 'hmm i know what can help this guy'..

 

My opinion would be coloured except, i've personally tried other products and found non was good enough.

 

 

 

Anyway, were getting off topic, and this poor guy needs help.. 'weblocker' is a free web filter.. its not ideal for networks but does the job.

[russdev]

ok guys back to your corners...

 

i have pm Jonny about the last few messages and hopefully we have got it all sorted.....

 

 

so lets keep this on topic

 

cheers

 

Russell

[NetworkGeezer]

The balance of comments seem to point to SmoothWall+DansGaurdian as the preferred Web Filtering tools for inappropriate material for minors.

 

Does it work as well for shockwave games but without disabling much of bbc.co.uk/learning which has seems to have to gone swf mad.

[Simcfc73]

You can get a blacklist which has loads of blocked website which does a good job of blocking 'timewasting' sites. You can also pay to get a update every week/month.

The filtering from Dansgauardian is hugely configurable and theres always a way to get sites through the filtering.

[Geoff]

Does it work as well for shockwave games but without disabling much of bbc.co.uk/learning which has seems to have to gone swf mad.

 

The weighted keywords usually pick this up. You can block flash by mimetype and put *.bbc.co.uk in your whitelist though if you want to be sure.

[ICTNUT]

Hi All,

 

For those of you, like us, that have the ability of blocking sites at the root tld level please find below all those available net wide.

 

We have taken the stance of blocking all except .com, .net, and .co.uk for language subjects we get the teachers to do a bit of research and once they have found sites to use and are vetted by us we then add them to the safe list that we have, so in essence for students they almost have a total block.

 

[edit]This is not a full and complete list but covers most[/edit]

 

 .com  	  United States  
 .net  	  Network  
 .ca  	  Canada  
 .uk  	  United Kingdom  
 .de  	  Germany  
 .fr  	  France  
 .it  	  Italy  
 .nl  	  Netherlands  
 .au  	  Australia  
 .jp  	  Japan  
 .be  	  Belgium  
 .se  	  Sweden  
 .es  	  Spain  
 .fi  	  Finland  
 .ch  	  Switzerland  
 .ap  	  Asia/Pacific Region  
 .pl  	  Poland  
 .dk  	  Denmark  
 .no  	  Norway  
 .cn  	  China  
 .at  	  Austria  
 .br  	  Brazil  
 .edu  	  US Educational  
 .mx  	  Mexico  
 .tr  	  Turkey  
 .il  	  Israel  
 .pt  	  Portugal  
 .nz  	  New Zealand  
 .gr  	  Greece  
 .ru  	  Russian Federation  
 .za  	  South Africa  
 .kr  	  Korea, Republic of  
 .sg  	  Singapore  
 .in  	  India  
 .tw  	  Taiwan  
 .hu  	  Hungary  
 .cz  	  Czech Republic  
 .ie  	  Ireland  
 .ar  	  Argentina  
 .my  	  Malaysia  
 .hk  	  Hong Kong  
 .is  	  Iceland  
 .uy  	  Uruguay  
 .eg  	  Egypt  
 .cl  	  Chile  
 .si  	  Slovenia  
 .hr  	  Croatia  
 .ro  	  Romania  
 .ee  	  Estonia  
 .org  	  Non-Profit Organizations  
 .th  	  Thailand  
 .mil  	  US Military  
 .lt  	  Lithuania  
 .pe  	  Peru  
 .ph  	  Philippines  
 .id  	  Indonesia  
 .sk  	  Slovakia  
 .yu  	  Yugoslavia  
 .ve  	  Venezuela  
 .cy  	  Cyprus  
 .lu  	  Luxembourg  
 .pk  	  Pakistan  
 .ua  	  Ukraine  
 .lv  	  Latvia  
 .co  	  Colombia  
 .vn  	  Vietnam  
 .pr  	  Puerto Rico  
 .kw  	  Kuwait  
 .bh  	  Bahrain  
 .arpa  	  Old style Arpanet  
 .bg  	  Bulgaria  
 .ir  	  Iran, Islamic Republic of  
 .mt  	  Malta  
 .gov  	  US Government  
 .ae  	  United Arab Emirates  
 .cr  	  Costa Rica  
 .fo  	  Faroe Islands  
 .mu  	  Mauritius  
 .lb  	  Lebanon  
 .jo  	  Jordan  
 .ba  	  Bosnia and Herzegovina  
 .ma  	  Morocco  
 .mk  	  Macedonia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of  
 .lk  	  Sri Lanka  
 .tt  	  Trinidad and Tobago  
 .gu  	  Guam  
 .mc  	  Monaco  
 .sa  	  Saudi Arabia  
 .do  	  Dominican Republic  
 .vi  	  Virgin Islands, U.S.  
 .by  	  Belarus  
 .qa  	  Qatar  
 .pa  	  Panama  
 .dz  	  Algeria  
 .gt  	  Guatemala  
 .sy  	  Syrian Arab Republic  
 .bo  	  Bolivia  
 .mo  	  Macao  
 .kz  	  Kazakhstan  
 .ec  	  Ecuador  
 .bd  	  Bangladesh  
 .gi  	  Gibraltar  
 .bm  	  Bermuda  
 .sv  	  El Salvador  
 .ng  	  Nigeria  
 .eu  	  Europe  
 .bs  	  Bahamas  
 .az  	  Azerbaijan  
 .zw  	  Zimbabwe  
 .am  	  Armenia  
 .lc  	  Saint Lucia  
 .ge  	  Georgia  
 .ad  	  Andorra  
 .li  	  Liechtenstein  
 .an  	  Netherlands Antilles  
 .hn  	  Honduras  
 .ag  	  Antigua and Barbuda  
 .ps  	  Palestinian Territory, Occupied  
 .bn  	  Brunei Darussalam  
 .gh  	  Ghana  
 .ke  	  Kenya  
 .sr  	  Suriname  
 .bb  	  Barbados  
 .ye  	  Yemen  
 .cc  	  Cocos (Keeling) Islands  
 .sm  	  San Marino  
 .np  	  Nepal  
 .md  	  Moldova, Republic of  
 .ws  	  Samoa  
 .tz  	  Tanzania, United Republic of  
 .na  	  Namibia  
 .om  	  Oman  
 .jm  	  Jamaica  
 .ni  	  Nicaragua  
 .bz  	  Belize  
 .ly  	  Libyan Arab Jamahiriya  
 .pf  	  French Polynesia  
 .aw  	  Aruba  
 .uz  	  Uzbekistan  
 .iq  	  Iraq  
 .fj  	  Fiji  
 .nu  	  Niue  
 .kg  	  Kyrgyzstan  
 .nc  	  New Caledonia  
 .sn  	  Senegal  
 .zm  	  Zambia  
 .ht  	  Haiti  
 .py  	  Paraguay  
 .to  	  Tonga  
 .mv  	  Maldives  
 .gp  	  Guadeloupe  
 .gy  	  Guyana  
 .mp  	  Northern Mariana Islands  
 .mz  	  Mozambique  
 .pg  	  Papua New Guinea  
 .gl  	  Greenland  
 .ao  	  Angola  
 .al  	  Albania  
 .kh  	  Cambodia  
 .mn  	  Mongolia  
 .ci  	  Cote D'Ivoire  
 .mm  	  Myanmar  
 .et  	  Ethiopia  
 .ml  	  Mali  
 .ga  	  Gabon  
 .ck  	  Cook Islands  
 .bw  	  Botswana  
 .vg  	  Virgin Islands, British  
 .cu  	  Cuba  
 .ug  	  Uganda  
 .gd  	  Grenada  
 .cm  	  Cameroon  
 .af  	  Afghanistan  
 .dm  	  Dominica  
 .lr  	  Liberia  
 .mq  	  Martinique  
 .bt  	  Bhutan  
 .kn  	  Saint Kitts and Nevis  
 .cx  	  Christmas Island  
 .ky  	  Cayman Islands  
 .tm  	  Turkmenistan  
 .sd  	  Sudan  
 .bj  	  Benin  
 .tn  	  Tunisia  
 .st  	  Sao Tome and Principe  
 .la  	  Lao People's Democratic Republic  
 .tv  	  Tuvalu  
 .mg  	  Madagascar  
 .dj  	  Djibouti  
 .sc  	  Seychelles  
 .bf  	  Burkina Faso  
 .gn  	  Guinea  
 .fm  	  Micronesia, Federated States of  
 .vu  	  Vanuatu  
 .cv  	  Cape Verde  
 .mw  	  Malawi  
 .tg  	  Togo  
 .ai  	  Anguilla  
 .io  	  British Indian Ocean Territory  
 .tj  	  Tajikistan  
 .sb  	  Solomon Islands  
 .rw  	  Rwanda  
 .sl  	  Sierra Leone  
 .vc  	  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines  
 .er  	  Eritrea  
 .mr  	  Mauritania  
 .gq  	  Equatorial Guinea  
 .tc  	  Turks and Caicos Islands  
 .cf  	  Central African Republic  
 .tf  	  French Southern Territories  
 .gm  	  Gambia  
 .re  	  Reunion  
 .ne  	  Niger  
 .pw  	  Palau  
 .bi  	  Burundi  
 .sz  	  Swaziland  
 .as  	  American Samoa  
 .so  	  Somalia  
 .ms  	  Montserrat  
 .gf  	  French Guiana  
 .va  	  Vatican City State  
 .gw  	  Guinea-Bissau  
 .mh  	  Marshall Islands  
 .fk  	  Falkland Islands (Malvinas)  
 .cg  	  Congo  
 .yt  	  Mayotte  
 .td  	  Chad  
 .ls  	  Lesotho  

[CyberNerd]

we only have a mandatory block on the .ru dpmain due to viruses/cracks etc.

 

is this a discriminatory pactice?

[ICTNUT]

Not that I am aware of, as far as I am concerned we are adopting a "Safe Use" policy in order to protect users and the school itself from any "Harm"

 

this has been in place for over four months now and have not had any bad feedback over it from anyone including the SMT.

[nightowl]

Does anyone know if it's possible to force google safe search through Symantec Web Security. I'm currently looking into changing our filtering software but at the moment this is provided free of charge, (county wide).

 

We do have quite a few problems with the pupils turning safe search off.

 

Also, I don't know if any of you have come across www crashmypc com before. Some of our little cherubs have just discovered it. It appears to freeze the pc, but after about 30 seconds to a minute a message saying, "You're a jerk", pops up and everything returns to normal. Just another site to add to your block list.

 

Thanks,

 

Lee

[ChrisH]

If you cant rewrite the URL which is what you need to do I used to have it set in the user profile and then ban google preferences etc. Its not ideal but stops most. This would also depend on what profile solution you use.