With rich enterprise-level features, internet filtering appliances(UTM) are very popular in business networks. In this article, I would discuss the difference of WFilter ICF internet content filtering solution with internet filtering appliances solutions. Internet filtering appliances have below advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages:

1. More features. UTM appliances integerate more features, including web filter, VPN, firewall, anti-virus…
2. Easier to be deployed.

Disadvantages:

1. Most appliances can only work for 2-3 years.
2. Bad expansion. In case you have more network clients, you need to buy new appliances.
3. Very expensive. Even upgrade is not free.

Comparison

Despite of the above disadvantages, Internet filtering appliances are ideal for business network security.  Though it is more difficult to be deployed with less features, WFilter ICF software also has below advantages:

1. Software solution without additional device, can be deployed with minimal change to network topology.
2. License is upgradable and movable.
3. Free upgrade for lifetime.
4. Most cost-effective.
5. If you prefer UTM solutions, please also check our: WFilter NG firewall.

DNS internet filtering solution provides you a configurable dns server. Dns query to a blocked domain will be redirected to a denial page. This solution has below advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages:

1. Easier to be deployed. You only need to change your dns server to get filtered.
2. Can filter domains via a black list or url category.
3. Can provide usage history and reports.

Disadvantages:

1. The filtering dns server may not be as fast as public domain servers.
2. Clients can break filtering by modifying dns servers.
3. All clients can only share a same blocking policy.
4. Can not block applications.
5. Can only record dns query quest. No bandwidth reports or visited url reports.

Comparison

Compared to this internet filtering solutions, WFilter ICF is more difficult to be deployed. However, WFilter is much more powerful:

1. When pass-by deployed, WFilter has no influence to your network performance.
2. Client can not bypass filtering because WFilter inspects all network packets.
3. You can set individual blocking policy for each client.
4. More filtering features, including web filtering, web downloading blacklist, url keywords filtering, application control, ip-mac binding…
5. More monitoring features and reports. WFilter can record visited domains, url, bandwidth… You can get various reports and statistics.

So if you only need to filter some domains or categories for the whole network, dns filtering would be a good choice. If you need more detailed reports or more dedicated blocking policy, WFilter ICF can be more helpful.

Client or browser plugin internet filtering solutions require you to install a client agent or browser plugin in client pc to filter websites. This solution has below advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages:

1. Easier to be deployed. You can install client agent or plugin instantly.
2. Can block domains or filter websites via cloud-based url category database.

Disadvantages:

1. Can not filter smart phones internet access.
2. Need to be installed in every client pc.
3. Clients can break filtering by changing browser, or killing the agent process.

Comparison

Compared to this internet filtering solutions, WFilter ICF is more difficult to be deployed. However, WFilter is more powerful and easier for maintaince:

1. WFilter can filter the whole network by one installation.
2. All type of clients can be filtered, including smartphone, andriod, mac, windows, linux.
3. No client installation is required.
4. More features: internet usage monitoring and reporting, application control, web filter…

So, for personal/family usage, client & browser plugin web filtering solution might be a good choice. But when you need to manage a business network, WFilter ICF provides a better solution.

Many users asked about email monitoring and recording features of WFilter. Actually, WFilter, including “WFilter Enterprise” and “WFilter NG firewall”, all are able to record SMTP, POP3, IMAP and web-based emails on network. However, there are some limitations of this feature.

This post will discuss WFilter’s email monitoring features and solutions.

1. Monitoring of email clients

An email client receives emails via POP/IMAP protocols, sends emails via SMTP protocol. In today, SSL encryption is widely used for email clients. There are two kinds of SSL encryption: “SSL Connection” and “STARTTLS”. With WFilter, you can:

• Monitoring emails via plain SMTP/POP/IMAP.
• Email attachments can also be recorded.

For SMTP/POP/IMAP over SSL, you have two solutions:

Solution 1: block SSL email connections to force email clients using plain email protocols.

When blocking is applied, email clients need to be re-configured to disable SSL encryption.

Solution 2: Enable “SSL Email Inspection” with “WFilter NG Firewall”.

This feature can intercept SSL connections and record SSL emails. However, “STARTTLS” still can not be recorded, even “SSL Email Inspection” is enabled. Please check: SSL Email Inspection

2. Monitoring of Web Emails

Web email means receiving and sending emails within a web browser. Please note that web emails received can not be recorded, while http outgoing emails can be recorded by WFilter. Please note:

1. Outgoing http web emails can be recorded.
2. Https web emails can not be recorded.
3. Not all http attachments can be recorded. It depends on the uploading protocol.
4. For http web emails not recorded, you may contact us for a web email format upgrade.