Moving from Smoothwall? Alternatives?

[JRA]

Afternoon all - just after any and all opinions really. Smoothwall's just about had it's chips - reporting is the main sticking point, for all the flashy (if complicated) features of it. What I REALLY do like about it though is the tickbox safeguarding against extremist material, terrorism etc.

 

Considering alternatives in Sophos, back to something Squid-based even maybe (though the latter really would be a step backwards, and I'd have to demonstrate I'm actively filtering XYZ myself by manually adding in URLs etc.)

 

What's 'used' out there in the world these days? What's got good reports to run on internet usage of your users? What's the least headache from setup to maintenance/stability?

 

Anything offered gratefully received! Thanks for reading.

[jmcdermott]

I have been using https://www.diladele.com/ combined with a DNS filter here with no problems. Price is excellent, easy to setup reports could be a little better but do work.

[mavhc]

Is it even possible to comply without using a commercial product when the lists of bad words are a secret? Spooky

[AlanD]

Yes - the safeguarding report with smoothwall is good...better than anything else I saw when I looked at a range of firewall/filters a couple of years ago....

 

And yes, smoothwall is pretty comprehensive with its radius/BYOD/DHCP/DNS/reverse proxy/load balancing/ etc etc///...in fact the only thing it doesn't do is Single Sign On.....

 

I particularly like the fact you can add AD groups to firewall rules.....Reports of Search terms used...and all the expected stuff for safe search and youtube etc.

 

Buts its general reporting is not so good.....not complete rubbish...but certainly getting a report on a single user browsing history is....well a challenge that isn't satisfied.

 

And the user interface is a like a cobbled together front end to DOS. ...

 

And ticking a box to allow say "social Media" works for PCs...but won't work for wireless devices....when you have to visit several places, create various objects and rules for each and every application...and yes, that might include further separate firewall rules.

 

Why there aren't sub categories for all the well known apps, and a box to tick for PC and another for wireless...and it automatically works, I don't know. Must keep their support staff really busy.

 

Not that some of these things really matter because with increasing use of certificate pining and other techniques, mobile apps basically slice though any firewall invisibly if they work at all.

[Wave9_Lee]

Hi JRA,

 

appreciate you want some feedback from forum 'users', but if you'd like to speak to any Sophos customers of ours, I'd be happy to introduce you,

 

cheers

 

Lee

[tech-man]

We use Mcafee Web Gateway

[rogerdnixon]

We use Securly - easy to setup, works on all devices, parental portal, offsite filtering lots of features and good reporting. Not too expensive either (free for just Chromebooks).

[yac2016]

Sophos is good. Easy to setup and configure can get expensive for bigger schools.

[ful56_uk]

Have a look at WatchGuard there a demo of there reporting tool dimensions on there site

[Achandler]

I currently have to put up with a Sophos Web Appliance for internet filtering it is a terrible product which has probably now been resigned to the scrapheap in favour of their new XG gateway etc. I have nothing good to say about it, but then it's an older product which I hope they don't sell anymore.

[sparkeh]

I currently have to put up with a Sophos Web Appliance for internet filtering it is a terrible product which has probably now been resigned to the scrapheap in favour of their new XG gateway etc. I have nothing good to say about it, but then it's an older product which I hope they don't sell anymore.

 

Funny, I really like the Sophos UTM. Dead easy to use and make it do what you want.

 

My only gripe is that the real time logs could be easier to read but it’s no biggie.

[Achandler]

A Sophos Web Appliance is not the UTM, hence I put the full name it. The UTM has loads of options in it, the just web filtering box is poor.

[Wave9_Lee]

A Sophos Web Appliance is not the UTM, hence I put the full name it. The UTM has loads of options in it, the just web filtering box is poor.

They don't really sell the Web Appliance any more - you're correct in that in terms of security appliance, all focus in on XG and SG - SG still supported for several years, but if anyone would like to swap from SG to XG, we can arrange an offer - same with web appliance.

 

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A Sophos Web Appliance is not the UTM, hence I put the full name it. The UTM has loads of options in it, the just web filtering box is poor.

They don't really sell the Web Appliance any more - you're correct in that in terms of security appliance, all focus in on XG and SG - SG still supported for several years, there's not really a compelling reason, but if anyone would like to swap from SG to XG, we can arrange an offer - same with web appliance (sounds like a more compelling reason here!)