anthrax69 Posted January 31, 2007 Posted January 31, 2007 I'm working in a company were we have like almost 100 employees. My boss asked me to put restrictions on the way the employee use internet. Like for example they can't access certain websites, they can't use yahoo messenger or stuff like that. Because some employees in our office just do surfing than work related matters. Thanks. 8)
srochford Posted January 31, 2007 Posted January 31, 2007 Key starting point is an acceptable use policy. If there's nothing in the job contract which specifies what is/isn't OK then you can get in deep water. You need to let employees know that you're monitoring what they do and then start logging all web access (I'm assuming you use a proxy server; if not then start now - it's much easier to keep tabs on what's going on!). If a manager then thinks that Joe Bloggs is spending all day surfing and not getting work done you can access logs to prove that. What most lawyers will tell you is that you can't just say "I wonder what Joe Bloggs is doing on the web?" and trawl through the logs.
anthrax69 Posted January 31, 2007 Author Posted January 31, 2007 Key starting point is an acceptable use policy. If there's nothing in the job contract which specifies what is/isn't OK then you can get in deep water. You need to let employees know that you're monitoring what they do and then start logging all web access (I'm assuming you use a proxy server; if not then start now - it's much easier to keep tabs on what's going on!). If a manager then thinks that Joe Bloggs is spending all day surfing and not getting work done you can access logs to prove that. What most lawyers will tell you is that you can't just say "I wonder what Joe Bloggs is doing on the web?" and trawl through the logs. Employees are aware that there would be monitoring. The boss just want to monitor, thats it. He doesn't care what program I will use. He just want to know who are doing the job and who sitting around and surfing some porn or non work related. Can you elaborate more on proxy. Is there any software I just download and install in the server and monitor all.
mrforgetful Posted January 31, 2007 Posted January 31, 2007 Proxy's are a program that all the Internet traffic will go through and be logged. The most popular around here seem to be Microsoft ISA Server if you're using a Windows Server or set up a Linux Box with SQUID or DansGuardian on it.
tom_newton Posted January 31, 2007 Posted January 31, 2007 The AUP is certainly the foundation of controlled internet usage. There's no way anyone in your employ/care should be allowed to use a PC (wether connected to t'internet or not) without having signed an AUP. Importantly, sysadmins should sign one too - even if they wrote it themselves. For practical logging and enforcement - something like our (SmoothWall's) Guardain products are the way forward! Tom
anthrax69 Posted February 1, 2007 Author Posted February 1, 2007 Hmmm.... We are using Windows Server 2003 here.
ChrisH Posted February 1, 2007 Posted February 1, 2007 Im currently looking at Corporate Guardian which seems to have all the bells and whistles you could want for such a task.
anthrax69 Posted February 5, 2007 Author Posted February 5, 2007 thanks for the info guys... ill try one of your recommended softwares...
phil_thebeans Posted February 5, 2007 Posted February 5, 2007 We are using software called Webmarshall that allows all browsing to be monitored and also allows for the filtering of content. This product is excellent and allows you to assign users to certain groups eg full access to sys admins and limited accessto the employee who continues to access non business sites, all is highly customisable and can be tailored to meet you requirements. The logs are searchable and will produce queried reports on access and usage. The product is easy to setup and can be used instantly with little configuration , we have ours installed on our proxy and the users are imported from active directory so you can use them in their already assigned groups or add them to new specific webmarshal groups. There is even a real time active sessions window (very handy for on the spot checks) this software is good value for money and very customisable I would highly recommend it.
ICTWizard Posted February 17, 2007 Posted February 17, 2007 why not try dans Guardian that is a good piece of software.... 8)
ICTNUT Posted February 18, 2007 Posted February 18, 2007 we have a three tier system in place, level 1 is provided by an ISA 2004 solutions (this is required as we have been piloting a remote access solutions and our county has insisted on it) this also provides me with a DMZ Level 2 is provided by smoothwall/dans guardian <- I maybe removing this soon .... Level 3 is provided by BLOXX -> http://www.bloxx.co.uk - this is not a bad solution andis cheap for education to so DON'T go by the prices they have on the web £8k per year is over kill. [edit] Add to that a 63 page enforced (i.e. SMT backed) AUP works pretty well. [/edit]
webman Posted February 18, 2007 Posted February 18, 2007 Bloxx is still expensive for eduaction (in my opinion, for what it is), we were quoted around £8k (in total over 3 years).
Busybub Posted February 22, 2007 Posted February 22, 2007 Used to use Bloxx (when they were Packet Dynamics) and they charged us 4700 a year for a service that had less funtionality than the Censornet (which uses Dansguardian) stuff we now use that cost us nothing! The cost of the physical device itself was also seriously steep for what amounted to a Gigabyte motherboard with low end AMD processor and two 80gb HDs.
baronne Posted February 23, 2007 Posted February 23, 2007 we went for SmartFilter by Secure Computing. Nice clean and runs on top of ISA...
Guest kerrymoralee9280 Posted February 26, 2007 Posted February 26, 2007 We use something called Jana server. It's freeware and has done a great job for our school. Easy install on a simple XP box if you so wish.
NPearce Posted March 2, 2007 Posted March 2, 2007 Whilst looking at filtering here myself I have also taken a different approach with the KS2 classes. Rather than telling them they cannot visit websites / chat sites etc I demonstrated the 15 suite computers through tightVNC, re-sized them to fit on the screen and displayed it to the class so they could see each computer in use, real time. Since seeing that we can observe any computer in the school at any time we have seen a marked decrease in the usage of inappropriate sites. It has in fact become a talking point between myself and the pupils, and seems to have stuck. Not in any way dismissing filters (I still think we need one), but certainly has worked in my case. Nathan
tom_newton Posted March 2, 2007 Posted March 2, 2007 Nathan - being able to view user-attributable realtime logging of web access is roughly equivalent and less network intensive Maybe more should be made of what "big brother" can do - might put em off playing games all through double maths (do they have double maths any more?!)
NPearce Posted March 2, 2007 Posted March 2, 2007 Maybe more should be made of what "big brother" can do Exactly, in this case I used a tool that is on the network already to allow me to support without having to log off other users (as remote desktop does). Empowering the students to do the right thing, and showing the capabilities of 'big brother' has done far more than a negative No No No approach. I don't have tome to sit and watch / check up on what they are doing. But they done know that! Nathan
ChrisH Posted March 2, 2007 Posted March 2, 2007 Block flash and shockwave apart from whitelisted sites. Ban keywords free games etc, Java games. This then means theres less java and PHP game sites for you to ban .
Robiano Posted March 16, 2007 Posted March 16, 2007 I'll throw SurfControl's hat into the ring then, very attractive pricing for education. The best reporting in the industry, they protect over 500,000 in the public sector. They have Url filtering(22 million url's catagorized) and web virus scanning. Can purchase a appliance, server solution or in the cloud solution.
markman Posted March 16, 2007 Posted March 16, 2007 We use Censornet, the software is free (linux) and you can subscribe to their blcaklist update for £100 per year (this updates the blacklist every night). It is easy to set up and an efficient package, it is rather like playing god and the kids hate it! Nearly as much as Lan School our classroom management software. The only problem we have is that their forum has been down for months, I suppose it is a good way to get people to pay for support. http://www.censornet.com
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