Content Filtering

A recent survey found 60% of the employees in the surveyed companies were using the Internet for personal activities.

Inappropriate use of the web can cost organisations thousands of dollars in lost productivity, tie up computer networks, and introduce viruses and spyware. Organisations can be legally liable for employee activities that create a hostile work environment or violate copyright laws.

Astaro’s Content Filterning (’Surf Protection’) feature can measure or block access to 60 categories of web sites. Sophisticated URL classification methods ensure accuracy and completeness in identifying questionable web sites. Comprehensive reporting gives administrators the data to analyse web behaviour in their organisation.

Administrators use Astaro Security Gateway Software Surf Protection to specify the types of web sites that are inappropriate for groups of users in their organisations. As users request web pages, the software checks a database of over 20 million web addresses and either records or blocks access to inappropriate sites.

Flexible Policy Creation

Astaro Security Gateway Software lets administrators define web access policies quickly and precisely. A point-and-click web interface makes it easy to define profiles of inappropriate web sites from among 58 categories. Administrators can tailor profiles for their organisation by aggregating the categories into 18 customisable groups and by creating whitelists and blacklists of web sites that should be accessible or blocked.

Comprehensive Coverage

Astaro Security Gateway Software utilises a database of 20 million categorised web sites maintained by Cobion. This is the largest database available for any commercial URL filtering system.

Web pages are analysed using sophisticated classification techniques such as:

  • Text Classification. Web pages are rated using factors such as the frequency of word occurrences and word combinations.
  • Optical Character Recognition. Text on images is captured and analysed.
  • Visual Object Recognition. Symbols, logos, and trademarks are used to categorise web sites.
  • Porn Detection. Flesh tone images and face recognition are used to identify pictures with high concentrations of non-facial flesh.
  • Similarity Comparison. Images are compared with similar images from already classified web sites.

The database classifies web pages in 15 languages.

If a user requests a web page that is not included in the database, the URL is sent to the web crawlers and classified within 24 hours.
Detailed Reporting

Astaro Security Gateway Software provides detailed reporting of web traffic and denial incidents. Administrators can use these capabilities to understand user behaviour, prioritise problems, and determine appropriate web use policies.
Excellent Performance

To ensure excellent performance:

  • Astaro Security Gateway Software caches URLs that have previously been requested in a local database, so the master database is referenced only for URLs never before accessed from that site.
  • Web page classifications can be quickly retrieved from seven servers around the globe, the most locations of any commercial URL filtering system.

Astaro Surf Protection Subscription

Surf Protection is an optional subscription that is installed as part of Astaro Security Gateway Software and activated by a license key.

URL Database Categories

  • Pornography/Nudity
    1. Pornography
    2. Erotic/Sex
    3. Swimwear/Lingerie
  • Ordering
    1. Online Shopping
    2. Auctions/Classified Ads
  • Society/Education/Religion
    1. Governmental Organisations
    2. Non-Governmental Organisations
    3. Cities/Regions/Countries
    4. Education
    5. Political Parties
    6. Religion
    7. Sects
  • Criminal Activities
    1. Illegal Activities
    2. Computer Crime
    3. Hate/Discrimination
    4. Warez/Hacking/Illegal Software
  • Entertainment/Culture
    1. Cinema/Television
    2. Recreational Facilities/Amusement/Theme Parks
    3. Art/Museums
    4. Music
    5. Literature/Books
    6. Humour/Comics
  • Information/Communication
    1. General News/Newspapers/Magazines
    2. Web Mail
    3. Chat
    4. Newsgroups/Bulletin Boards
    5. General Discussion Sites
    6. SMS/Mobile Phones/Fun/Accessories
    7. Digital Postcards
    8. Search Engines/Web Catalogs/Portals
  • IT
    1. Soft- and Hardware Vendors/Distributors
    2. Web Hosting/Broadband
    3. IT-Security
    4. Translation
    5. Anonymous Proxies
  • Drugs
    1. Illegal Drugs
    2. Alcohol
    3. Tobacco
    4. Self Help/Addiction
  • Lifestyle
    1. Dating/Relationship
    2. Restaurants/Bars
    3. Travel
    4. Fashion/Cosmetics/Jewellery
    5. Sports
    6. Building/Residence/Architecture/ Furniture
    7. Nature/Environment
  • Private Homepages
  • Job Search
  • Finance/Investment
    1. Investment Brokers/Stocks
    2. Financial Services/Investment
    3. Banking/Home Banking
  • Vehicles/Transportation
  • Weapons
  • Medicine
    1. Health/Recreation/Nutrition
    2. Abortion
  • Extreme Games/Gambling
    1. Gambling
    2. Computer Games
    3. Toys

Features