Canadian University College Gains Filtering Accuracy with Bloxx

“The main benefit I’ve experienced so far is the knowledge that our campus users are being protected from browser based security threats; our policies on appropriate content are applied in a much more accurate manner than previously, leading to greater user satisfaction.”

Colin Hill, Director of Computer Services, Canadian University College

Background

Located in Alberta, Canada, Canadian University College (CUC) educates students to think with discernment, to believe with insight and commitment, and to act with confidence, compassion and competence. Its mission is to encourage students to achieve academic excellence, to accept personal responsibility for their mind, body and spirit and to experience spiritual growth as they learn to serve their community.

The Challenge

CUC was using LinkWall by Connectotel to filter its 700 users across CUC and its affiliated school, Parkview Adventist Academy, however Colin Hill, Director of Computer Services wasn’t happy with the way the solution filtered Web content:

“The URL list was not aggressively updated and had many inaccuracies meaning that staff had to set exceptions or add sites as students and staff would report incorrect blocking. The solution was also very poor at stopping peer-to-peer and proxy avoidance traffic, which meant that our students weren’t protected to the highest standard.”

Hill wanted to future proof his network and realized that Web filtering had moved on from URL lists and his network needed a real-time filtering solution that could accurately cope with the proliferation of new Web content.

“We used to get lots of complaints about misclassified Websites and a major objective was that the new solution had to provide greater filtering accuracy; if I could get this then my users would be much more satisfied thereby minimizing support calls. The aim was for me to spend less time managing Web filtering to dedicate to other IT tasks.”

The Solution

CUC chose the Bloxx Web Content Filter to track its 700 users across two sites after reviewing numerous filtering solutions.

The Bloxx Web Filter doesn’t just rely on URL databases; it uses Tru-View Technology which performs live analysis and real-time categorization of a Web page, giving fuller coverage of the Internet, increasing filtering accuracy and dramatically improving protection and security.

All Bloxx Web Filtering appliances come as standard with a full reporting suite to analyze internet activity as well as IM and P2P blocking, file download management and anti-malware tools to increase user protection and productivity and enhance network security.

The Results

Hill has found that since installing the Bloxx Web Filter, his primary objective of increasing filtering accuracy has been achieved.

“The main benefit I’ve experienced so far is the knowledge that our campus users are being protected from browser based security threats; our policies on appropriate content are applied in a much more accurate manner than previously, leading to greater user satisfaction.”

“So far informal assessment indicates that user satisfaction has increased due to less problems over inaccurate classification and needing to report incorrect blocking. Tru-View Technology and the accuracy of its categorization is the most useful Bloxx filtering feature to our organization.”

Additionally, the Bloxx Content Filter allows you to quickly set up multiple user groups and policies depending on user role, department, and so on, as Hill comments:

“The ability to integrate with our eDirectory LDAP server is very useful and a great time saver. We have different default settings for our High School and College clients, and have created several other group profiles for specific needs.”

Following the installation of the Bloxx Internet Filter, Hill has seen a significant reduction in IT management time:

“I now spend much less time involved in the day-to-day management of Web filtering and a big factor in this is the reduction in time spent in the preparation of reports on user internet activity.”

“We haven’t had the Bloxx appliance installed for long, but we are really starting to see the benefits of the reporting suite. We are currently familiarizing ourselves with the reports and at the moment, I’m starting to set up some scheduled reports for College administrators with the information when they request it. As we see a pattern to the types of reports the College staff are asking for, we can start scheduling the reports they need to be automatically run and emailed to the relevant person.”

“I’m very happy with the Bloxx Web Filter; we have increased user satisfaction and it has allowed us to provide faster reaction to indentified issues. We have gained much greater filtering accuracy and it has far better reporting functionality than our previous solution.”