Websense et al

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Does anyone use the Websense content filtering system? I am looking at implementing the Websense Web Security package but am wondering what alternatives may be out there.

I think Websense works best as the environment I am looking to deploy it in has lots of users and lots of client machines. Websense doesn't need to be installed at the client station, only on the server, alternatives I would be interested in would need to be deployed in the same way.

Any suggestions?

 

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SmurfControl absolutely dumps on Websense in every single way imaginable. Of course, in common with all competition between two technical products, the ****e one always wins and, to these ends, WebSense bought SurfControl last year. Don't expect there to be any real research & dev done on it from now and and watch the good bits of SurfControl (it's interface, rule configuration, backup & reporting capabilities etc) get rinsed away, leaving you with the truly toss elements of Websense (bizarre integration with AD that makes no sense and doesn't work consistently, filtering rules that are about as easy to understand as a calculus paper in Swahili and a Java-based UI that looks like it was knocked up by a child in MS Paint)

In short, if you can still get SurfControl then dooooooo it!

 

Doesn't look like it is still available. Looks like Websense will have to do....or will it? Thanks for the input!

 

We've just put implemented, about 6 months ago, the barracuda web filter.

Not sure if thats the type of thing you're looking for but i've found it easy to admin and had no problems so far.

 

Barracuda have a good reputation - certainly worth looking at. You could also try Finjan and BlueCoat - though they filter content based on Websense, SurfControl or other companies' databases (as well as performing more complex content inspection like anti-spyware/malware, anomalous traffic pattern matching and, in some cases, SSL inspection)

 

I implemented Websense right before I left my network admin job, and I really liked it. It worked very well - blocked what it should, allowed what it should, and was pretty easy to configure. The most difficult part was having the administrative staff figure out who should be allowed access to which kind of sites!

 

Nice alternative choices there Zebulebu, think they might be a bit pricey for this particular client though. Although the Barracuda one is very impressive. I'm not even sure the websense one is financially viable due to the ongoing costs after implementation.

I recently installed a solution called BrowseControl which is a bit more basic as you have to manually input/import from txt lists of blocked/allowed URL's. It does however succeed on price and features, especially the app blocker which I found very useful. It's also easy to install.

The only reason I am not so keen on using it for this client is because I would have to put the client software on many MANY more machines. Now BrowseControl does allow for remote client installation but it appears to not work or crash client machines when you try to use the remote installation feature to push the software out to client machines; maybe a bug with the program?

With this in mind I don't see it is a good solution given the time I would have to spend visiting every machine to deploy the client side of the software.

I think what I am looking for is something like BrowseControl but with the remote installation feature that actually works. The more I look at the situation the more I think Websense would prove a great solution, but too costly (considering for a lot less $$$ I can get something like BrowseControl).

What do you think?

 

you may want to check out webwasher. it has more features and seemed to just work better. currently we have websense, but should we ever get the budget we would much rather have webwasher.

 

Had high hopes for SurfControl, but it refused to keep up with our environment and constantly crashed. We ended up going back to Websense, and while that's a decision we're not 100% happy with, at least it's running for more than a week at a time.

I've heard good things about Barracuda, and will check out some of the other alternatives listed here. Thanks for including them.

 

Really? I ran SurfControl for 4000 users, across 120 sites and (believe it or not) still on MS Proxy 2.0 for eighteen months without any problems. Was a pain to sort out when I first went in there; I ended up doing a complete reinstall and starting from scratch as the content db hadn't been updated for a year and wasn't running properly, rewriting all the rules and setting up a proper SQL db to log to - law enforcement is a compliance-heavy environment - but once I'd gone through the initial pain it was worth it for the stability it gave in the end. Websense blows - though now they've moved away from Java and onto a WebUI its a lot more user-friendly than it used to be. Still get horrible issues trying to bind to AD and the policy implementations are just crappy compared to SurfControl's. Hey ho.

Welcome to the forum btw - nice first post!