What Are the Key Functions of the Barracuda Web Filter?

What Are the Key Functions of the Barracuda Web Filter?

What are the key functions of the Barracuda Web Filter?

The Barracuda Web Filter, previously known as the Barracuda Spyware Firewall, provides content filtering, virus filtering, spyware download filtering, spyware communication blocking, spyware detection, and spyware removal from Windows desktop computers.

How does the Barracuda Web Filter block Web sites?

The Barracuda Web Filter includes 58 categories of Web sites that are updated regularly. These categories include Web sites known to include spyware, pornography, and other offensive materials. The Barracuda Web Filter blocks access to these sites so that problems, such as spyware downloads from these sites, are avoided.

Can the Barracuda Web Filter block different sites for different users?

Yes, the Barracuda Web Filter enables administrators to customize policies for specific users, groups, and IP address ranges in the organization. Administrators can also establish effective time ranges for those policies.

Sample uses for these capabilities include:

· Restricting access to job board Web sites to only the Human Resources group

· Defining separate policies for teachers and students at a school

· Enabling compliance officers unrestricted access to the Web for investigation

· Providing external instant messaging (e.g., AIM) access only to specific users or groups

· Restricting personal Web browsing to non-working hours

The Barracuda Web Filter integrates with popular LDAP compatible directory servers for user and group membership information. It also integrates with Windows domain controllers to facilitate transparent user authentication.

What kinds of directory servers are supported?

The Barracuda Web Filter supports any LDAP compatible directory server, including Active Directory, Domino Directory, eDirectory and Open LDAP.

How are users authenticated?

There are three authentication mechanisms supported by the Barracuda Web Filter.

· For Windows domains, the Barracuda Web Filter includes software to be installed on the Windows Domain Controller called the Barracuda DC Agent. This software monitors the Windows login events and provides a mapping of Windows username and IP address to the Barracuda Web Filter so that user policy can be applied transparently to the users.

· Additionally, when users attempt to access a resource that is blocked, the Barracuda Web Filter displays a page that presents the opportunity to enter a username and password. This approach does not require the Barracuda DC Agent or any configuration on end users’ Web browsers.

· When configured in forward proxy mode, the Barracuda Web Filter can take advantage of standard proxy authentication where browsers send the authentication credentials in the HTTP headers. This form of authentication may require a one-time configuration on the users’ Web browsers. Proxy authentication is not compatible with the Barracuda Web Filter while running in transparent mode.

What kinds of policy rules can be customized on a per-user and per-group basis?

The Barracuda Web Filter enables administrators to restrict access by domain, URL pattern, content filter categories, image safe searching, MIME types and application.

Can legitimate Web sites be blocked? How do you handle this?

If the Barracuda Web Filter is blocking a Web site that you need to access, it is possible to override the block by placing the URL or IP address on a whitelist.

Why did you rename the Barracuda Spyware Firewall to the Barracuda Web Filter?

While the original intent of the Barracuda Web Filter was to address the focused problem of spyware and virus protection at the gateway, thousands of Barracuda Web Filter customers purchased and deployed the product for broader content filtering applications.

With the introduction of advanced user, group, subnet, and time-based policy controls, Barracuda Networks renamed the Barracuda Spyware Firewall to the Barracuda Web Filter to better reflect both the current feature set and the actual usage in customer environments.

Despite the change in product name, Barracuda Networks remains committed to offering best-of-breed spyware protection as an important differentiator in the Web filtering marketplace.

What is spyware?

Spyware poses tremendous security threats to organizations, including intellectual property theft, productivity loss, and privacy invasion. As such, Barracuda Networks broadly defines spyware as any software that when installed on your computer either delivers or communicates information without your knowledge or intention outside your computer. This is a very broad definition of spyware, but one that we believe, given the current plethora of problems with spyware, is necessary. This definition includes all malware, adware, keyloggers, toolbars, and many other categories of programs.

How does the Barracuda Web Filter block spyware downloads and viruses?

The Barracuda Web Filter both blocks access to known spyware sites and analyzes all downloaded files against its database of known spyware and known viruses. These databases are updated every hour with the latest spyware and virus definitions so that your network is always protected

Does the Barracuda Web Filter remove or clean spyware from an infected PC?

Yes. The Barracuda Web Filter includes the Barracuda Spyware Removal Tool, an ActiveX control that removes spyware from Windows computers. When the Barracuda Web Filter detects spyware protocol activity (“phoning home”), it can automatically redirect the user’s Web browser to a page that serves up the Barracuda Spyware Removal Tool. Spyware detection and removal definitions are updated hourly.

What happens to laptops that my employees sometimes use to work remotely? How are they protected?

The Barracuda Web Filter cannot protect users while that are working remotely unless they VPN into the corporate network. However, once the laptops reconnect to the corporate network, the Barracuda Web Filter can detect the spyware protocol activity, block it and serve up the Barracuda Spyware Removal Tool to clean the infected computer.

What can I do about spyware that I cannot clean?

Any spyware infections that are not easily removed with the Barracuda Spyware Removal Tool or any traditional desktop spyware solutions may require that you re-image your machine.

Does the Barracuda Web Filter support filtering of off-network users?

Yes. Barracuda Web Filter 410 and above provide the Barracuda Web Security Agent (WSA), a downloadable client that can be installed on remote, off-network Windows computers. With the WSA installed, Web traffic from remote client computers will be transparently filtered through a central Barracuda Web Filter appliance.

Can the Barracuda Spam & Virus Firewall also protect against spyware threats?

The Barracuda Spam & Virus Firewall is designed to protect the email server and filter spam and viruses from all SMTP traffic entering the network via port 25. As such, the Barracuda Spam & Virus Firewall only protects the email stream. The Barracuda Spam & Virus Firewall does include blocking of spyware programs that are attached to email, however, it does not provide general blocking and detection of spyware like the Barracuda Web Filter does. The Barracuda Spam & Virus Firewall normally sits in front of your email server and receives and processes only your email stream. The Barracuda Web Filter, on the other hand, sits at your Internet gateway and processes ALL of your Internet traffic.

How current are your spyware and virus definitions?

Because spyware threats and viruses change continuously, new spyware sites, spyware definitions, and virus definitions are automatically delivered to the Barracuda Web Filter through the Barracuda Networks Energize Updates subscription. Users can configure this feature to update hourly or daily. This process ensures that the Barracuda Web Filter is automatically up to date and does not require the administrator to make manual updates.