Hosted services are becoming a popular method of providing a range of IT facilities to businesses, and it’s easy to see why. They take away much of the burden of support and administration. Along with typical email anti-spam and anti-virus scanning, we’ve seen services such as NetSupport 24-7 offering remote support. Now, Netintelligence takes the next step by providing the facilities to enforce end-point security as a hosted service.
Online Internet Security (OIS) uses a local client service installed on each system, which enforces a range of security policies that are maintained on the Netintelligence website. Administrators log in to their dedicated area, where they can create policies for controlling web access and running local anti-virus and firewall software. Policies can contain a wide range of criteria and allow you to implement functions such as true web content filtering, IM, newsgroup and P2P blocking, plus access restrictions to systems during specific time periods. The client service will use the latest available policy. When it senses that an Internet connection has been made, it will contact the main website and download any policy updates.
Deployment is nicely handled. First, you download a separate utility from your dedicated area and install it on a Windows server within your domain. This runs a quick scan of Active Directory and the network, and builds up a list of users, groups and available systems along with basic details of the installed OS. Each system is presented on the OIS website, allowing you to place them in a queue ready to receive the client service and anti-virus component if required. A deployment window is then defined, during which time the central site will attempt to push the client to the selected systems when they connect to the LAN. At present, the firewall software must be downloaded and installed manually.
The main administrative interface opens with a customisable view that can show which systems have had the services installed and those that are still waiting. Group membership allows policies to be applied to multiple systems, and each group can have more than one policy assigned to it. Content filtering currently comprises some 16 categories, which can be blocked or allowed. Passive logging of website access is provided and, if a white list is used, all categories not included in it will be blocked. When a system accesses a website, the client passes it to the OIS website for processing before permitting access.
Kaspersky is the power behind the anti-virus and firewall facilities, and the former component also provides protection against spyware. A real-time virus scanner resides on the local system and provides a toolbox for running on-demand scans as well. Updates are automatic, as the software checks for and downloads any new signatures at predefined intervals. The client service logs all web and application activity and downloads this information to the OIS website. Consequently, reporting facilities are very good, as administrators can view graphs of all activity and see what individual users have been doing.
Although still a work in progress, OIS offers businesses with limited IT support an easy way of centralising and enforcing basic acceptable-use policies. Reporting tools are extensive and Netintelligence has recently added optional mail filtering, making this hosted service even more versatile.
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