Trend

Securing content

There is renewed interest in content filtering solutions, says Srikanth R P

Time was when content filtering solutions were used primarily to block access to inappropriate websites. With Net usage increasing dramatically, companies have had to come to terms with the loss of sensitive information and a dip in employee productivity. To remedy the situation, corporates are turning to content filtering specialists such

as Computer Associates, McAfee, Trend Micro, Fortinet and Elitecore Technologies. Analysts say that this space could turn into a market that equals the anti-virus solutions segment in size.

"Although in India, the legalities concerned with inappropriate content are not enforced strongly, it is imperative for companies that operate in global markets" -- Kartik Shahani Sales Director McAfee India	"Organisations that are serious about security, need to complement or replace site-blocking with a content monitoring solution to monitor, filter, warn about and block content " -- Rajendra Dhavale Consulting Director Computer Associates India

Says Nikhil Jain, president and COO, Elitecore Technologies, “Indian organisations realise that an enormous amount of time is wasted due to the unrestrained use of the Internet. By blocking applications such as instant messaging, online gaming, shopping or electronic trading, employee time is freed up and distractions are reduced. Faster downloads due to a reduced demand on bandwidth result in a faster surfing experience and higher productivity.”

The company’s product, Cyberoam has a database of three million websites and it can monitor instant messaging and downloads.

Organisations have also realised that site-blocking can address only a small part of the problem. Explains Rajendra Dhavale, consulting director, Computer Associates India, “Site-blocking addresses only 30 percent of the requirement to control and monitor content. Organisations that are serious about security need to complement or replace site-blocking with a content monitoring solution to monitor, filter, warn and block content for all applications, not just HTTP traffic.” Content filtering solutions have to be capable of filtering content in e-mail, chat, P2P applications, instant messaging and other popular applications.

Large organisations are waking up to the need for content filtering solutions. They realise that misconduct on the part of an employee can tarnish a company’s image. Some content filtering solutions can capture inappropriate content and store it on the server. This could prove to be useful in cases where a dismissed employee files a case against the employer. For instance, Computer Associates’ product eTrust Secure Content Manager stores a screen capture of inappropriate content with a time, date, application, user and violation stamp. Any content that violates the company’s ‘acceptable use policy’ is deemed to be unfit. Additionally, inappropriate use or posting of content by employees such as porn, hate sites and downloading prohibited documents can lead to legal issues. Says Kartik Shahani, sales director McAfee India, “E-mail may contain information that is offensive in nature or inappropriate from a legal standpoint (pornography or racial comments). Although in India, the legalities concerned with inappropriate content are not enforced strongly, it is imperative for companies that operate in global markets.”

High bandwidth costs

Indian bandwidth costs are still on the higher side. Unrestrained use of the Internet results in insufficient bandwidth when it is needed the most. Many organisations have started blocking bandwidth-intensive applications such as P2P (Kazaa etc), FTP sites and MP3 downloads. Currently, the Indian market views content filtering as a bandwidth and a time-saving tool. Bandwidth constraints are an immediate and visible problem that CIOs face on a daily basis. Improper usage means that companies have to procure additional bandwidth to support legitimate business applications.

The third and the most important reason is loss of sensitive information. As sensitive files can be transmitted within a matter of seconds through diverse mediums—e-mail, FTP, P2P or instant messaging—organisations need to take control of content. Theft of sensitive client data in software and BPO companies can lead to major revenue losses.

Says Antony Chapman, director, Asia Pacific Sales, SonicWALL, “We have seen a huge demand for content filtering solutions from software development houses.” Based on this, the company recently introduced a content filtering appliance.

Trojans and phishing

Surfing seemingly innocent sites can also lead to a virus or phishing attack. Explains Vishak Raman, country manager, Fortinet India, “In recent months, some serious network threats have been reported during routine Web surfing. Examples of this include the JS.Scob.Trojan also known as the Download.Ject vulnerability and the IMBIG.Trojan. Web surfers visiting innocuous sites that have been compromised put themselves and their data at risk because the Trojan logs everything that the surfer types and sends this information to another location.”

Hosted model

Some vendors are also offering a hosted model. Fortinet offers a hosted service that is designed to provide a URL filtering solution. The amount of effort required in updating a database, configuring the firewall, the cost of subscriptions to blacklisted databases and the negative impact on network performance can act as a deterrent for smaller companies. A hosted solution helps in such cases. Most enterprises have already deployed anti-virus solutions or firewalls. Content filtering remains a gap in the security policy that needs to be addressed.

srikanth@expresscomputeronline.com