Web monitoring software

Barack Obama

Hi. We have a small setup of 12 PCs, a single server and a SonicWall TZ200 Firewall. My boss now wants to setup some sort of monitoring software to see what websites people are looking at.

Can anyone please give me some advice? I've being looking at Webspy but it doesn't look too straight forward.

Thanks

tech

on the sonicwall in logs you can view top hits for websites, also if you want to pay you can use Sonicwall Viewpoint.

Other wise you could install websence or similar

doopa

OpenDNS could be worth a look: http://www.opendns.com/

Barack Obama

Great - thanks for the tips guys. I've had a look and both of those products look good. I'd be happy with no additional security or filtering (the SonicWall is looking after this) so it's just mainly the reporting I need to get setup. This was why I was looking at Webspy to use the logs from the SonicWall but it looks pretty awkward! Also, not sure how the reporting would be on a per-user basis...

Am I right in saying that either Websence or OpenDns are installed on the server and act as a proxy server? It would be great if there was some sort of AD plugin so they could give reporting on a per-user basis.

Kinetic^

http://www.untangle.com/


This should do everything you need.

Digital Dave

Sonicwall have software that pulls the logs from the Sonicwall firewall and you can get some excellent reporting. It’s called View Point and is free as far as I know. You need to install it on a server (might run on a spare PC) and it’s very heavy on ram as it installs an SQL database as part of the install. So only run it on a server (or PC) that has nothing / very little else running on it.
It does take a while to configure properly, but it can automate reports so you could send a weekly management type summary to your boss.
You can then get daily reports of viruses blocked, top bandwidth users, top bandwidth sites etc. If you are staying with Sonicwall it’s worth setting up.
Will save you having to put another device (like Untangle) on the network behind your Sonicwall. That said Untangle seems to be excellent, though I haven’t used it.
You can also purchase a Sonicwall add-on (called content filtering I think) to manage what websites people can access. But that will be set to block as opposed to monitor.

tricky D

Don't forget to bear in mind privacy implications.

Can my employer check my phone calls, internet access or emails?

Your employer can monitor your phone calls, emails and internet access (for example, your use of social networking sites) if it is for a specific reason and your employer can justify this. For example, you employer can monitor your communications if they believe that you have been breaking confidentiality agreements and can only prove this by monitoring.

However, your employer must tell you beforehand that your calls, internet access or emails are being monitored. One way your employer could do this is by introducing an ‘acceptable use’ policy. It is important that checking phone calls, emails or internet use is the only way in which your employer can achieve the purpose.

If you have concerns or questions about the monitoring of your phone calls or internet use, you can contact one of the organisations listed at the end of this pack.

http://www.iccl.ie/-privacy-at-work.html

also more info:
http://www.dataprotection.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=208

Digital Dave

Oh yeah, should have mentioned that. Thanks tricky D.
It’s always important to get staff to ‘buy into’ changes to computer security as otherwise they will easily find ways around it. People can surf the internet on their phones. Or worse still connect to a neighbour’s wireless network (very bad for your network security) once they are informed / aware they are being monitored.
The justification for monitoring can be genuine. For example it can mean you need a less expensive internet connection, saving ye money. There are many other genuine justifications.
Also you can allow staff to access sites (like Facebook etc) at lunchtimes and before and after work depending on what web filter ye implement.So it's fair to the employeer and employee.

ithinkimcute

Employee monitoring software is effective and useful to many businesses. And I think this may do what you're looking for http://www.ilovefreesoftware.com/04/windows/business/download-time-doctor-free.html
This software silently records application and Internet usage for all users during work time.

darkrose

Barack Obama wrote: »

Hi. We have a small setup of 12 PCs, a single server and a SonicWall TZ200 Firewall. My boss now wants to setup some sort of monitoring software to see what websites people are looking at.

Can anyone please give me some advice? I've being looking at Webspy but it doesn't look too straight forward.

Thanks

Hey there Mr. President! Teeeheee! :pac:

Employee monitoring software in these days are vastly needed for the increased productivity of the employees for they intend to waste their time internet surfing when they have a chance or they are not monitored according to the article I read before I went through this thread about employee internet monitoring, there's a software there namely TimeDoctor. As a short description about the function of that software, it works just like oDesk. It captures screenshots of the dektop of your employees and records the websites they visited and send it to the employers or the server. It also records the time they worked on a specific day,week,month or even a year. Why don't you try it out? It's still on BETA though so its FREE. I hope I helped you our Mr. President, it's an honor to serve you

AlarmGirl

one more great solution is Activtrak.com. It comes with a free license for up to 3 monitored workstations:cool:

SouperComputer

Setup a ClearOS gateway, make all users auth though it via LDAP. Done.