Filtering alternatives to Smoothwall

[robbie-w]

Morning,

Could anyone recommend any other filtering solutions to Smoothwall? Having lots of issues getting support and contract expires next year I believe

 

Specifically looking what other colleges might be using

 

Thanks,

 

Robbie

[gshaw]

Morning,

Could anyone recommend any other filtering solutions to Smoothwall? Having lots of issues getting support and contract expires next year I believe

 

Specifically looking what other colleges might be using

 

Thanks,

 

Robbie

 

Depends how badly you want the in-page content scanning. If URL category-based filtering is enough there's loads but very few do dynamic page inspection. We're in a similar boat, want to move away from proxy-based filtering but category-based products aren't as intelligent (in theory anyway)

[sparkeh]

We moved from SW to a Sophos UTM and much prefer it.

 

Feel free to ask anything you want to know

[crdacosta]

Over the Summer we moved from Smoothwall to RM SafetyNet - so far so good

[Opendium_Steve]

Have a look through the "provider responses" on the safer internet centre website: https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-centre/teachers-and-school-staff/appropriate-filtering-and-monitoring/provider-responses-0

[robbie-w]

I was looking at Sophos UTM prior to Smoothwall coming along. How does it handle the safeguarding/prevent aspect? Can automatic reports be run to cover these "hits"?

 

Robbie

[sparkeh]

I was looking at Sophos UTM prior to Smoothwall coming along. How does it handle the safeguarding/prevent aspect? Can automatic reports be run to cover these "hits"?

 

Robbie

This is worth a read: https://www.sophos.com/it-it/medialibrary/Gated-Assets/white-papers/sophos-UK-schools-meet-Prevent-directive-recommendations-wpna.ashx?la=it-IT

[tech-man]

We use mcafee web gateway

[Paid_Peanuts]

Moved from SW to Sophos XG a year and half ago.

XG filter just as good we find, however, the firewall capability and application control is hands down 1000% better on the XG.

Inline also - so no more proxy settings!

[Opendium_Steve]

Inline also - so no more proxy settings!

 

How does user identification work with that? For Windows workstations, most systems use Kerberos authentication, which can't be done with a transparent proxy. Obviously for BYOD and 1:1, transparent is fine since you just use 802.1x to log the device onto the network.

[Norphy]

I can't speak for Sophos but the way it works for Smoothwall and Sonicwall is that there is an agent that sits on your DCs which looks for logon events. When it finds one, it passes who has logged on which IP address to the filter and then it applies the appropriate settings.

 

Works quite well in my experience.

[Wave9_Lee]

Morning,

Could anyone recommend any other filtering solutions to Smoothwall? Having lots of issues getting support and contract expires next year I believe

 

Specifically looking what other colleges might be using

 

Thanks,

 

Robbie

 

Hi Robbie-w,

 

I'd be happy to provide some pricing for Sophos and connectivity (if needed). I can arrange a demo, or a conversation with one of our technicians ref features etc. Also there are a few members on here we've supplied/supported who can help I'm sure.

 

cheers

[Simcfc73]

The demo interface of the Sophos I've looked at is lovely and the reports look great.

 

I'm wary of moving from SW to be honest, I've spent years getting it right but my UTM box is 7 years old now and I am sick of the clunkiness of SW.

[Paid_Peanuts]

The demo interface of the Sophos I've looked at is lovely and the reports look great.

 

I'm wary of moving from SW to be honest, I've spent years getting it right but my UTM box is 7 years old now and I am sick of the clunkiness of SW.

 

Moved from SW to Sophos XG and don’t miss SW at all.

Not that hard to replicate, simply export all your custom URL groups from SW and import into Sophos - that’s most of your filtering sorted. The rest are standard firewall rules which wouldn’t hurt to go through them all again to make sure they are still fit for purpose.

[Wave9_Lee]

The demo interface of the Sophos I've looked at is lovely and the reports look great.

 

I'm wary of moving from SW to be honest, I've spent years getting it right but my UTM box is 7 years old now and I am sick of the clunkiness of SW.

 

Hi Simcfc73,

 

Understandable, especially when legacy systems have been in place so long. Because of that our service includes full migration, configuration, installation and training. We also include unlimited helpdesk access. We rarely have issues with migration (we've done a lot) and we support you throughout the contract as much as you need. Because of the responsiveness of our helpdesk, we find lots of customer simply pass on most change requests for us to perform. You have full admin access to make changes if you're comfortable, but don't need to - the price is the same.

 

That's enough self-trumpet blowing - hopefully other members on here can testify to our service. If you want a demo or walk-through webex etc, let me know.

 

cheers