If you are in charge of a company´s online security, run a business offering WiFi access to the public, or are responsible for the online material users can access in your organization, you should consider protecting your network with an Internet site blocker.
An Internet site blocker blocks access to websites known to be harboring ransomware and malware downloads, prevents Internet users visiting websites constructed for the purpose of executing phishing attacks, and can be configured to stop compromised websites from downloading spyware and adware.
An Internet site blocker can also be used to block Internet access to websites containing inappropriate online material or content that is in breach of acceptable use policies. This can help prevent the scenario in which individuals are exposed to online material they might find offensive and help companies improve their productivity by eliminating cyber-slacking.
How an Internet Site Blocker Protects Networks
An Internet site blocker uses a three-tier mechanism to protect networks – the first of which is a comparison against blacklists of websites known to harbor ransomware and malware downloads. The mechanism also uses SURBL and URIBL filters to prevent Internet users vising websites that have been constructed for phishing attacks and those that hide their identity behind the whois privacy feature.
Thereafter category filters can be applied in order to block Internet access to the categories of websites most likely to harbor malware (pharmaceuticals, travel, publishing, etc.) and cause offense (pornography, racial intolerance, hate speech, etc.). These filters can also be used to block Internet access to productivity-sapping activities such as online gambling and social media websites.
The final filtering mechanism – keyword filtering – can help fine-tune the category filters in order to ensure compliance with company Internet use policies and can also enhance online security by preventing users visiting websites with certain words in their content, using apps of a certain nature, or downloading files with certain file extensions.
How to Block Internet Access Effectively
In order to block Internet access effectively, an Internet site blocker has to have a high degree of granularity and be easy to use. One of the reasons why early Internet filters were not embraced enthusiastically was because they were not sufficiently flexible to meet the demands of schools and colleges – whose students were frequently denied access to important educational material.
Modern mechanisms to block Internet access allow administrators to apply the category and keyword filters by individual users, groups of users or company-wide. They can also be applied by time or bandwidth – allowing (for example) employees working in marketing departments to access social media platforms within certain hours while blocking access to social media platforms for all other employees.
The reason why ease of use is important is because if an Internet site blocker is too complicated to understand, administrators will err on the side of caution and set the filtering parameters too rigidly. If the filtering parameters are subsequently relaxed too much, this could open doorways for cybercriminals to deploy their malware and ransomware payloads undetected.
Protect Your Network with an Internet Site Blocker from SpamTitan
SpamTitan is one of a group of companies that has been developing online security solutions for almost two decades. From our extensive portfolio of online security solutions, we offer companies, businesses and organizations a choice of web filters to block Internet access – WebTitan Cloud and WebTitan Cloud for WiFi.
WebTitan Cloud
As the name implies, WebTitan Cloud is a cloud-based Internet site blocker. Requiring only a redirection of the DNS server settings to deploy, WebTitan Cloud can be protecting networks within minutes with robust mechanisms and advanced features. WebTitan Cloud is scalable up to thousands of users with no loss of Internet speed or bandwidth restrictions.
WebTitan Cloud for WiFi
WebTitan Cloud for WiFi is a particularly appropriate solution for entities operating a BYOD policy or providing a publicly-accessible WiFi service. WebTitan Cloud for WiFi is equally as effective and scalable as WebTitan Cloud regardless of whether the WiFi signal originates from an individual WiFi router or a nationwide network of WiFi hotspots.
All of our web filters to block Internet access include a “whitelisting” facility. This facility allows Internet users to whitelist important websites that may be inadvertently blocked by incorrectly applied filtering parameters. The whitelisting facility also helps prevent latency during the SSL inspection operation – an essential operation for identifying online threats disguised within encrypted websites.
Try a WebTitan Internet Site Blocker for Free
If you are in charge of a company´s online security, run a business offering WiFi access to the public, or are responsible for the online material users can access in your organization, you are invited to contact us and arrange for a free trial of the WebTitan Internet site blocker most appropriate for your needs. Our team of Sales Technicians will answer any questions you have, explain more about the free trial, and help you get started with the process of deploying and configuring your WebTitan Internet site blocker.
