SmoothWall Stops Secure Proxy Abuse in Schools

New version of School Guardian Blocks UltraSurf and other HTTPS proxies
National Educational Computing Conference 2008
Booths 967-969

Internet security specialists SmoothWall announce that their new School Guardian web filter now incorporates pioneering support for blocking secure proxies such as UltraSurf.

Often described as ‘unblockable’, UltraSurf is a 100kb download that once installed allows students to visit blocked sites with impunity via HTTPS. It is just one example of numerous free ‘secure anonymizers’ that are easily available on the web to help students outsmart school filters. Applications like UltraSurf are particularly difficult for filters to detect because they allow students to view web sites and media files within a secure tunnel where content is encrypted and cannot be scrutinized. They also present a much more serious security problem since the tunnels students use for unauthorized surfing also allow malware and other web-related threats to sneak into school networks undetected.

Although a simple solution is to block all secure traffic, it is unreasonable to expect districts to do this since secure transactions often need to be made in the daily business of running a school. While many security vendors claim to prevent secure proxies, in most cases, the suggested ‘fix’ is simply to implement such a blanket block, which is far from practical in most school environments.

School Guardian adopts a much more sophisticated approach by screening secure traffic for the characteristic usage patterns that are inherent in HTTPS proxies such as UltraSurf. Richard Moore, Vice President of Sales says the key to SmoothWall’s success in schools is their ability to offer a very advanced level of filtering at a much more affordable price:

“Choosing the most expensive security solution doesn’t always guarantee the best protection. Schools should look carefully at functionality and make sure they’re not spending thousands of dollars on something that can be easily defeated by a free anonymizer download. School Guardian proves that it’s possible to provide consistent control over web usage – without breaking the budget.”

SmoothWall will be showcasing the new version of School Guardian at NECC 2008 in Texas (June 29 – July 2). Since the company now issues regular feature packs for all their latest versions, users of School Guardian 2008 will automatically receive the new HTTPS proxy controls in July. Other interesting forthcoming features include a much-requested YouTube top videos report (so schools that want to allow the site can check who is viewing which videos, when) and a handy User Portal, which should help over-stretched administrators to do more delegating.

To see School Guardian in action either visit SmoothWall at the NECC expo (Booths 967-969) or visit www.smoothwall.com

About SmoothWall

The SmoothWall family of Internet security solutions helps schools, enterprises and small/medium businesses to prevent misuse, block objectionable content and protect against web related threats. Delivered and supported via a global network of partners in over 60 countries, SmoothWall’s commercial and open source solutions now safeguard more than a million networks worldwide.

Contacts

OnPR for SmoothWall
Jessica Foote, + 503 802 4406
jessicaf {at} onpr(.)com