Who are your Filtering Partners?
Where to Buy?
Is it Secure?
How Accurate is the Filtering Database?
How Scalable is it?
How Reliable is the Service?
How do I manage/administer the service?
What are the Reporting Features?
Partners
Is the URL Content Filtering Service provided by SnapGear or a third-party?
- WebWasher for SnapGear does not use any 3rd party services. Webwasher and SnapGear are both Secure Computing products.
What URL content filtering options are available through SnapGear?
What is the licensing structure?
- You have the choice of WebWasher URL Filtering only or WebWasher Filtering and Reporting. Licensing is based on the SnapGear Appliance on which you will install it. Each license is for an unlimited number of users.
How do I buy this URL content filtering service?
- L4 Networks carries the complete line of WebWasher for SnapGear in our L4 Networks Store. Please click BUY NOW to view pricing.
What do you do with my organization's traffic information?
Do you ever sell or make usage statistics available to outside sources?
- WebWasher stores all data in their secure Data Centers and never sells or releases any customer information.
The Web Filter stores your organization's URL ratings request in the reporting database so you can generate and view reports on your users surfing patterns. WebWasher stores the username, the URL, and the action taken (allow, permit, or monitor). This information belongs to you, and this information not sold or released in any manner..
Database AccuracyHow many URL does the WebWasher database contain?
- 5.5 million URLs.
The WebWasher database contains about 5.5 million URLs. Because WebWasher rates sites at the domain or directory level, the database actually covers 400 to 500 million unique web pages.
How accurate is the WebWasher rating process?
- Webwasher is renowned for the quality of its database, which is generated
using unique analysis algorithms and continuously refined to ensure 100% accuracy.
How often does WebWasher update the database?
- WebWasher continuously updates the ratings database, but it does not require customers to update a local database.
Unlike other Internet content filtering solutions, WebWasher solution does not require clients to receive large database updates daily or weekly. Instead, customers all access the same ratings database. When a user requests a URL not contained in the database, the WebWasher solution uses Real-Time Classifier™ to assign a rating to that page. The Real-Time Classifier™ Identifies content that might evade other URL classification methods. The combination of URL database filtering and real-time analysis ensures the most accurate and scalable category enforcement.
How do you locate sites to block?
- You select which categories of information you want to block. WebWasher provides only category ratings for Web sites.
WebWasher service does not determine which sites to block. WebWasher assigns one or more category ratings to requested pages. Access to web pages then proceeds based on the policies you set for content categories.
Do humans review the web sites?
- Yes, WebWasher uses expert raters to train the database.
Initially, category experts create a list of URLs that represent good content for each category. The ratings database then uses this initial set of pages to recognize content similar to those initial pages. Through a process called Content Vectoring, the database learns to better categorize pages as it rates more and more user requests. The WebWasher staff also continually adds new pages to all categories and evaluates any pages that the rating process could not recognize. Users can request WebWasher staff to rate specific new pages or review automatic ratings assigned by the database. Through this process, the database becomes more accurate at categorizing future user requests.
How many and what categories do you provide?
- 64 categories – Webwasher’s tried-and-tested categorization schema of 64 categories
allows for a granular but manageable category-based Internet usage policy.
Content Categories
| WebWasher Category |
| Pornography |
| Erotic/Sex |
| Swimwear/Lingerie/Nudity |
| Shopping |
| Auctions/Classified Ads |
| Governmental Organizations |
| Non-Governmental Organizations |
| Cities/Regions/Countries |
| Education |
| Politics |
| Religion |
| Sects |
| Illegal Activities |
| Computer Crime |
| Hate/Discrimination |
| Warez (Illegal Software) |
| Extreme |
| Gambling/Lottery |
| Computer Games |
| Toys |
| Entertainment/Motion Picture |
| Recreation |
| Art/Photography |
| Music/Web Radio |
| Literature |
| Humor/Comic |
| News/Magazines |
| Web Mail |
| Chat/Instant Messaging |
| Newsgroups/Blogs |
| SMS/Ring Tones/Logos |
| Digital Postcards |
| Search Engines/Web Catalogs/Portals |
| Software/Hardware |
| Web Hosting/IT Services |
| Information Security |
| Translation Proxies |
| Anonymous Proxies |
| Illegal Drugs |
| Alcohol |
| Tobacco |
| Self-Help/Addiction/Dependency |
| Dating/Relationships |
| Restaurants/Nutrition |
| Travel |
| Fashion/Beauty |
| Sports |
| Real Estate/Architecture/Residence |
| Nature/Environment |
| Private Homepages |
| Human Resources |
| Shares/Stocks |
| Investment/Insurances |
| Banking/Finances |
| Transportation/Logistics |
| Weapons |
| Health |
| Abortion/Cloning |
| Pharmacy/Drugs |
| Business/Services |
| Promotion/Advertising |
| Spyware |
| Phishing |
| Malicious Web Sites |
How does the WebWasher solution deal with words that have multiple meanings (that is, words that have both an innocent meaning and a less appropriate meaning?)
- WebWasher uses content vectoring to look at words in context.
The WebWasher Web Filter looks at words in their context to determine the rating for a page. Our ratings database uses a proprietary content vectoring technology that not only looks at the words on a page, but looks at how the word on the page relate to each other. With this technology, pages dealing with chicken breast recipes, discussions of breast cancer, and images of naked human breast get categorized into separate, appropriate categories.
How do you handle sites cached at search engines such as Google?
- WebWasher rates cache pages as unique URLs.
The WebWasher Internet management solution rates pages based on the URL. Since cached pages in Google have unique URLs, the ratings database stores ratings for these cached pages as if they were any other page on the Internet.
How does the WebWasher solution handle dynamically generated sites?
- WebWasher uses Real-Time Classifier™ to accurately categorize dynamic content.
Because the WebWasher solution provides Dynamic Real-Time Classifier technology, most dynamic sites receive the correct rating. Our database continually reviews the ratings of stored URLs to ensure that the content has not changed.
ScalabilityWhat size organizations can use the WebWasher Web Filter?
- Any size organization can use the WebWasher Web Filter.
Any size organization with a connection to the Internet can benefit from outsourcing its Internet monitoring and filtering with the WebWasher Web Filter. WebWasher services can integrated with many agents ranging from desktop firewalls to carrier-class routers.
Can distributed organizations use the WebWasher Web Filter?
- Distributed organizations can especially benefit from the WebWasher Web Filter through central management and the WebWasher Report Service.
How many users can the WebWasher Web Filter solution support?
- User capacity depends on the overall capacity of the appliance or application that has integrated the WebWasher Web Filter. The WebWasher solution adds a very small overhead on the integrated device.
What happens if the WebWasher servers go down?
- Devices will attempt to contact a redundant server. After a certain configurable time period, the agent device will allow the user's request if it has not received a response from the Lookup Appliance.
Agent devices that integrate the WebWasher service have access to any of the geographically distributed Lookup Appliances on Tier-1 networks. Many of these agents might also have access to private Lookup Appliances provided by our OEM and ISP/MSP partners. If the primary Lookup Appliance does not respond, the device will attempt to contact a redundant server in another location. It is nearly impossible for all of the Lookup Appliances to fails at the same time. If for some reason, the agent cannot receive a response from any Lookup Appliance, the customer administrator can set the agent response to allow all or block all user requests.
WebWasher has also designed its service with web services standards that allow for any component to survive an outage of another component. For example, if the Lookup Appliances cannot contact a WebWasher data center, they continue to serve ratings and to collect log entries until they can once again communicate with a data center.
Does WebWasher have more than one data center?
Is the WebWasher Web Filter geographically load balanced?
- WebWasher provides several, geographically distributed data centers.
WebWasher has Lookup Appliances (the servers that communicate with customer agent devices) in three United States locations (each peered on four tier-one provider networks). WebWasher is installing additional Lookup Appliances in the US and Japan (Tokyo and Osaka). WebWasher is in final negotiations with a tier-one provider in Europe to locate WebWasher servers there.
How does WebWasher secure the data centers?
- WebWasher houses equipment only in secure, disaster-tolerant colocation facilities.
WebWasher houses its data centers in highly secure, disaster tolerant facilities with redundant Internet connections. In addition, WebWasher services are hosted on IBM hardware and software for ultimate security, scalability, and reliability.
Can I look up a rating now to see how it is categorized?
- Yes, users can lookup a url by visiting the WebWasher web site (https://www.cyberguard.com/cgi-bin/urltest/urltest.pl).
Won't an outsourced solution increase my network latency for web requests?
- Users typically see no increased latency for their Web requests.
In most cases, the end user will not notice the difference between a request directly to an Internet site and a request processed through the WebWasher Web Filter. The local device issues a rating request to the WebWasher data center and a request for the target page from its web server in parallel. Typically, WebWasher Web Filter responds within 40 milliseconds,usually before the web server's response. If the web page does arrive before the response from WebWasher Web Filter, the device delays forwarding the page to the user until it receives the categorization response.
WebWasher Web Filter also provides for several optimizations. Users within an organization frequently visit the same sites, so many manufacturers choose to implement a local cache when integrating the WebWasher solution. The local cache can quickly evaluate frequently visited sites instead of having to send a request to the WebWasher data center. The Lookup Appliances also have a cache of frequently requested URLs so the appliance can respond without having to send a request to the database. If the Lookup Appliance cache does not contain the URL, then the appliance will query the database. And finally, if the database does not contain the requested URL, then the Dynamic Real-time Rating process will categorize the URL.
If the URL requires real-time rating, how much of a delay will end users see?
- Dynamic Real-Time Rating take only a few seconds.
The Dynamic Real-Time Rating service, which categorizes URLs on the fly, usually takes no more than a few seconds to rate the requested page and get a response back to the end-user.
How many simultaneous filtering requests can WebWasher handle?
- Each Lookup Appliance can handle thousands of requests per second, and WebWasher will maintain sufficient Lookup Appliances to keep ahead of customer demand.
Each server in a Lookup Appliance can handle approximately 2,000 requests per second. Each Lookup Appliance has several load-balanced groups of servers to handle customer rating requests. Adding capacity is simply a matter of adding additional servers to each Lookup Appliance. WebWasher will also add additional Lookup Appliances in various geographic locations to increase capacity as needed.
Management/AdministrationWho decides what content to block?
- You select which categories of information you want to block. WebWasher provides only category ratings for Web sites.
An administrator at your site sets up the policies that determine what material to block. When an end-user requests access to a URL, your local edge device requests a rating for that URL from a nearby WebWasher lookup appliance. The lookup appliance returns the rating categories to which the URL belongs. The WebWasher service will compare the ratings to your local policy for that particular user. If your policy allows the content categories for that page, then the end-user gets to view the page; otherwise, the user sees a block page letting the user know that the page contains material against local policy.
Who can generate and view reports?
- Anyone with the administration username and password can view and generate reports.
With our upcoming release of the WebWasher service, all users that you designate as system administrators, administrators, and managers can generate reports. These users can generate reports from any workstation with Internet access.
Can administrators manage policies remotely?
- Administrators can manage your account from any computer with a web browser.
Administrators can manage users and policies from any workstation with Internet access. Administrators simply log in to the user-friendly administration site located on the SnapGear appliance (WAN management access on the SnapGear appliance must be turned on, otherwise only local LAN administration is possible).
Do you require a dedicated management console or software package?
- No, you manage your account through a Web Browser.
No, administrators can manage Internet monitoring and filtering from using any workstation with a web browser and an Internet connection.
How many policies can I create?
- One.
At this time only one policy per appliance is supported.
Can I create my own categories?
- No, you create your policies from the 64 categories WebWasher provides.
The WebWasher review database currently assigns one or more of 64 categories to requested URLs. We feel that these categories enable you to maintain good control over the types of material you will allow and block for your organization. We do have the ability to add additional categories if necessary, but user feedback has shown that too many categories creates an unreasonable burden on managers who have to decide what material to permit or block.
Can I override (block or allow) certain URLs regardless of the rating?
- Yes, you can create overrides that supercede the ratings in the WebWasher database.
Yes, administrators can choose to creates lists of URLs that you will always allow or block from your location regardless of the categories those URLs would receive from the ratings database. This is done on the SnapGear appliance.
ReportingDo you have any predefined reports? Can you segment reports by users and groups?
Can you generate reports by time and location?
- WebWasher provides numerous user-configurable reports.
The WebWasher Internet management solution provides numerous predefined reports, such as Problem (Violation) Reports, Global Reports, Group Reports, Location Reports, Single User Reports, Top User Reports, and Category Reports. You can generate each of these reports for specific periods of time from just today up to the past 90 days.
Is reporting web-based?
- Yes, you access reports through a secure Web interface.
Yes, you generate and view reports using a web browser on a workstation connected to the Internet. Any users classified as system administrator, administrator, or manager can generate reports.