Netsweeper

[Badaz52]

I don't know if our netsweeper is just rubbish but a lot of obvious things are getting through it at the moment. The big one being virtual web browsers and sandboxed ones. Has anyone managed to block them reliably as they are a major safeguarding concern as they bypass all filtering.

[Jawloms]

Is this your own NetSweeper setup, or through a provider's config like SchoolsBroadband?

[Badaz52]

Is this your own NetSweeper setup, or through a provider's config like SchoolsBroadband?

 

Schools Broadband, it is also taking days whenever we put our own rule in for it to actually block it.

[Jawloms]

Yep, we've been complaining about this very issue for weeks with them and getting nowhere...... On top of other issues which are also going nowhere........

[Badaz52]

Yep, we've been complaining about this very issue for weeks with them and getting nowhere...... On top of other issues which are also going nowhere........

 

It is a nightmare, I have no idea what they are playing at.

[filteringtech]

Yes, I am very fed up with them telling me its just us!

 

The trouble with Schools Broadband is that they whitelist and bypass decyption in the Global, Master and other shared lists, so the things that would be normally (and properly) blocked by Netsweeper, go sailing straight through. You can see this in the Category Lookup Tool and Trace Request Tool.

 

My support tickets just sit there even though they have been open for months because you can't force category processing from a local list if it's been whitelisted in a shared list, and I am fed up with having to block individual items that Netsweeper categorises correctly.

 

It's not Netsweeper at fault, but a truely crappy and incompetent configuration from Schools Broadband. (Oops I finally said it!) It is a shame, because their Broadband Service we find to be good and reliable.

 

Most over my recent allows and blocks are to try mitigate against it.

 

Happy to share our experience either here or via PM.

 

Wondering if we need an informal user group so that we are not re-inventing the same wheel?

Edited October 18, 2023 by filteringtech

[filteringtech]

It is a nightmare, I have no idea what they are playing at.

 

Nor do they.

 

We had an issue with a blocked port while trying to upload something to an AWS domain.

 

In order to remedy it, they whitelisted amazon-adsystem.com and primevideo.com

[Badaz52]

Yes, I am very fed up with them telling me its just us!

 

The trouble with Schools Broadband is that they whitelist and bypass decyption in the Global, Master and other shared lists, the things that would be normally (and properly) blocked by Netsweeper, so that they go sailing straight through. You can see this in the Category Lookup Tool and Trace Request Tool.

 

My support tickets just sit there even though they have been open for months because you can't force category processing from a local list if it's been whitelisted in a shared list, and I am fed up with having to block individual items that Netsweeper categorises correctly.

 

It's not Netsweeper at fault, but a truely crappy and incompetent configuration from Schools Broadband. (Oops I finally said it!) It is a shame, because their Broadband Service we find to be good and reliable.

 

Most over my recent allows and blocks are to try mitigate against it.

 

Happy to share our experience either here or via PM.

 

Wondering if we need an informal user group so that we are not re-inventing the same wheel?

 

I'm happy to take part in any discussions, we never really had any issues until, surprise surprise we renewed our contract for another 5 years this year! I agree with you the broadband is really good but the filtering or lack of and the support are currently atrocious and I'm really considering threatening to cancel if things don't improve.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Nor do they.

 

We had an issue with a blocked port while trying to upload something to an AWS domain.

 

In order to remedy it, they whitelisted amazon-adsystem.com and primevideo.com

 

fgs...

[Jawloms]

Quick update we got yesterday;

 

We are experiencing slower then normal replication times currently which has been raised with Netsweeper. We are currently investigating this issue with them to identify what is causing this slow down in updates becoming live.

 

Would have been good to have been told this when they first found out, we've been 'mentioning' it to them for over a fortnight, plus isn't that what the "Recent News" section of the hub is for?

[filteringtech]

My testing today is showing that if I make a change to a Shared List, eventually it goes through, though this is taking over 30mins which is still rubbish.

 

If I make a change to a Local List, it never updates Policy Server: Policy3, so doesn't take effect.

 

I presume there is more chance of Schools Broadband reading this here than on a ticket.