Proxy site for blocking

[tom_newton]

baronne,

SmoothWall is based on DansGuardain - The Dan in DG is Daniel Barron, our technical Director, and bloke of much long hair & sandals.

 

DG works great (ask Geoff), but configuring it and maintaining it is not for the faint of heart - requires you to be at least something of a linux guru. SmoothWall's commercial filters are there for the ease-of-use crowd. Basically, they offer all the power of DG, but with:

Web interface - NO linux knowledge req'd for a

Very simple install - one CD, couple of questions, done in 15 mins

Integrated groups/auth

web-based reporting tool

delegated admin - allow non-techs to add/remove sites, view reports

works with windows & mac

support contracts and installation if you require

etc.

 

As opposed to some of the others, SmoothWall turns a server into an appliance. Other filters (surfcontrol, for example) sit on top of ISA, and still others come shipped as an appliance (involves paying for a shiny box you could have had cheaper from HP, IBM or Dell).

 

If you have any specific questions, do ring/pm/email me!

 

Tom

[baronne]

ahh coool... all clear now...

cheers

Baronne

[mrforgetful]

All the ones listed on this thread are already bocked here, one I found yesterday though isn't:

 

http://www.blockednomore.com

[tom_newton]

@forgetful - not in our blocklist (yet) but caught by the content filter.

[baronne]

SmartFilter had it already.... sweet.

[Robiano]

FYI Tom, SurfControl have an ISA/server Solution, they also have an appliance AND an on-demand service, off the infrastrure.

 

Huge advocate off them as they can cater to any problem: endpoint, server or in the cloud!

[tom_newton]

Rob: I have seen their new appliance at RSA - and to be honest I was not hugely impressed - its just ISA with SC on a piece of dramatically ugly hardware

 

Not had chance to look into on-demand stuff though, never been a great fan, but its something i'm willing to be persuaded on

[Robiano]

Tom:Have you caught wind of their new appliance coming soon aparently, quoting May time I think. Sexy looking box! 2 x Av vendors on board + their threat database. Sounds good, we'll have to wait and see.

 

The on demand solution is ex-blackspider, Surf bought them out late last year, very impressive indeed. On demand is huge in private sector. Seeing a lot of councils now looking at on demand, only a matter of time before the public sector catches up with the private one! Just hope the budgets can keep up!!!

[baronne]

robiano: what do you mean on demand?

[Robiano]

barone:On demand = Is the term given to a service that is available as and when you want it all you need to do is turn it on. Like the new on demand tv services popping up now, watch a film as and when you want to. When applied to IT security this term basically means 'off your network'. An on demand service is delivered at the internet layer, therefore, taking away ANY need for hardware or software on the infrastucture.

 

It is very popular in the private sector because it removes the complexity of having to deal with the problem(re:spam, av, email content, web access and content, web threats) and is backed up by SLA's(service level agreements).

SurfControl's on demand email service, Mailcontrol, carries a number of SLA's 99.999% availability, 95% spam removal, 100% virus protection etc etc.

 

Hope this helps....

[baronne]

ahh yes, cool I get it... yeah - a managed service - something like what Messagelabs have been offering for years. You can divert your DNS on your mail and web through their service. Sounds good on the surface, but I like having a bit more control over the security, and to be able to walk over to my servers and manage them myself where necessary.

cheers

baronne

[tom_newton]

On-demand mail makes sense to me - but on-demand web (which is "pull" rather than "push") and often requires tighter integration with local servers never really does it for me - though as I said, i'm willing to be converted. I really should sign up for a few and have a poke about!