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Unless you have a way to block them, your students or employees may be able to circumvent your network security by using anonymizers to access websites. Anonymizers are web-based proxy servers that forward client requests to other servers. Their popular appeal lies in the fact that they remove identifying information of the user before they take them to a site.
iPrism protects your organization from anonymizers and from the damage they can cause with a multilayered approach that protects at the perimeter. One line of defense is the powerful iGuard 100% human-reviewed database, which includes thousands of anonymizer sites that you can block through a simple category check. And because the iGuard database is continuously being updated, new anonymizer sites are identified and downloaded to your iPrism daily.
In addition to human review, iPrism adds another layer of protection against anonymizers that addresses single-user proxies. iPrism Web Filter employs artificial intelligence agents in the iPrism operating system to analyze patterns in the request URL. When the data forensics detects a suspicious pattern, it dynamically blocks access to the site. The iGuard team also actively identifies unique and consistent patterns to assist in dynamic real-time classification. iGuard’s current pattern list provides excellent coverage for proxy packages such as PHPProxy and CGIProxy. Pattern updates are published in the critical hourly filter updates to all iPrism customers.
iPrism allows a user to surf a proxy website (if it’s not in iGuard), but once he or she attempts to use the site to perform a request of the target webste, the patterns are detected and blocked.
Together, the iPrism Web Filter uses these filtering mechanisms to help you:
- Avoid overblocking users, so that their productivity isn’t compromised and you aren’t inundated with help requests
- Avoid underblocking users, so that your Internet access returns to being more of an asset than a liability
- Choose an Internet filtering solution with a classification system aimed at accuracy first and foremost
Anonymizers pose serious threats to organizations and companies of all kinds:
- In the workplace, anonymizers give employees access to offensive or illegal content by making end-runs around corporate network defenses. Even if these events are isolated, they can precipitate costly and public lawsuits if co-workers are exposed to content.
- AUP and Security Policy violations can cause serious legal and regulatory consequences for organizations that fail to protect their workers from inappropriate content or data theft
- In schools and libraries, anonymizers are the most popular tool students use to access top social Web destinations such as YouTube, MySpace and Facebook, typically blocked by school IT staffs.
- CIPA violations resulting from anonymizer use by students can jeopardize a school qualifying for critical e-Rate funds
- Anonymizers create huge network security holes, hacker portals for data theft, spyware, viruses and worms—dangers of which users are typically completely unaware.
- Anonymizer sites and fringe sites that offer illegal or offensive content often also covertly deliver malware applications. Even if the original computer user logs off, the machine can start delivering offensive popups to other users who log on to that computer.
> Security Breaches
> Legal Liability
> Productivity Loss
> Inappropriate Content
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