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Internet Content Filtering for Manufacturing Companies
Guide / Case Study
INDUSTRY:
Manufacturing
WEBSENSE INTEGRATION:
Microsoft® Proxy Server
Internet Filtering is a Management Concern
The internet should be used in the workplace only for business purposes. Bosch
Siemens, based in Munich, have implemented this directive and set up content filtering using Websense Enterprise software.
Since management cannot constantly look over their employee's shoulders, the temptation
to illegally and rapidly download the latest movie hits or their favourite music from the internet is great. "Quite apart from the legal problem where the worst case scenario is that a company can be made liable for
its employees' actions, this represents an abuse of company resources", comments Project Manager, Peter Frießner who works at Bosch Siemens (BSH) in the Information Technology Infrastructure and Operations
department. "It is therefore in every company's interest to manage internet access in the workplace."
This realisation was the starting point for the Munich based company BSH for setting up a fundamental
infrastructure for secure internet access. Taking the form of a comprehensive project entitled "New Office Next Generation Web Access" the topic of "Filtering Content at the Web Access" was considered by management,
the legal and HR departments, the overall works council, the central communications department and the information security department represented by the data protection officer.
Clear Differentiation Between
Business and Private use of the Internet A content filter is a software program for managing internet access and applications in the workplace.
The process it uses is simple: a master database categorises web
pages and using clearly defined access rules determines which of these categories employees may have access to during working hours. Undesired pages with images of violence, pornography, racist and other
discriminatory content are barred at all times. "Implementing a content filter also provides a means for greater compliance with legal requirements", Frießner reports.
Setting up a content filter was just one
of a total of four modules of the Next Generation Web Access at BSH. The other modules include setting up an online anti-virus scanner, integrating web access into Windows Active Directory and integration into the
system management.
The first step was deciding the objectives in terms of architecture and infrastructure as well as determining content to which access was to be refused. This was followed by an assessment
of the solutions available on the market. This was based on a comprehensive list of criteria and a weighting of individual items. BSH then set up an identical scenario for each of the short-listed solutions.
Detailed Evaluation of the Test Candidates
The comparisons were carried out on a URL basis. According to Frießner this enabled them to determine which web pages were filtered by some suppliers and not by others.
A further aspect was the feedback loop. Frießner: "During the tests, we occasionally came across web pages which were not normally blocked by the individual solutions. The corresponding URLs were then passed to the
suppliers and BSH then calculated how long it took until access to these pages was permanently barred."
The decision was taken to choose Websense Enterprise. "The filtering quality was the deciding factor. Today, we now have predefined
categories which determine which internet addresses are blocked for our users, such as pornography, hacking tools, the glorification of violence, racism, internet radio and TV, spyware, illegal music downloads,
games etc. Any necessary corrections of incorrect categorisations are made by means of positive and negative lists based on the URL or host machines," Frießner stated. One of the most important features of the
architecture that has been implemented was the fact that the solution is effective at the internet access point and thus protects against the many potential dangers from the internet. "Setting company-wide uniform
filtering rules to web access supports an improved business use of the internet."
Today BSH has extended their protection by using Websense Premium Groups. The categories in Premium Groups provide an even
more finely graduated control of internet access in the workplace.
Additional pages that act as advertising servers and individual banner adverts for the most frequently visited internet sites can be blocked
by this method. There are also websites for downloading freeware, shareware or other software, as well as web pages providing client software for instant messaging. Instant messaging is suppressed before the program
starts.
Using Websense Security Premium Group, sites infected with viruses and worms can now be recognised so early and blocked that employees are certain to be blocked from calling up these pages. Security
PG thus adds an extra level of security to the virus scanners and firewalls.
The result: centralised access control enables the uniform application of defined filter settings.
This guarantees that all
BSH employees around the world will gradually be included. By the end of 2004 this applied to 6,500 employees, in 2005 there will be a further 6,500 and by the end of 2006 a further 4,000.
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