GFI WebMonitor

Internet Monitoring, Web Security and Internet Access Control Software

Research by IDC shows that up to 40% of employee Internet access is non-work related.  While shutting off Internet access is impractical, Internet monitoring and access control software enables network administrators to reduce unproductive Internet use: GFI WebMonitor™ helps you boost employee productivity by giving you the ability to monitor and control Internet access in real time, ensuring that employee web browsing activity is aligned with business needs, and that any files downloaded are free of viruses and other malware.

Granular Internet monitoring

GFI WebMonitor’s Internet monitoring capabilities provide visibility into what sites your users are browsing, how much time they are spending and how much bandwidth they’re consuming.  It also provides interactive drill-down capabilities, showing you the site categories being visited by particular users, how much time and bandwidth is being consumed, and more.  This is often the first step towards formulating an effective Internet Usage Policy that meets your specific business needs.

Web filtering with time, bandwidth and category based policies

GFI WebMonitor lets you define web filtering and web browsing policies to help enforce an effective Internet Usage Policy.  Administrators can allow or restrict access to different website categories as well as setting time or bandwidth thresholds, on a per user or per IP basis.  GFI WebMonitor’s extensive site categorisation database, with coverage of over 205,000,000 domains that are updated daily, enables you to manage what sites your users can browse while blocking access to websites in particular categories, such as adult materials, gaming, personal email, P2P, social networks like Facebook and MySpace, and more.

Web security to protect against viruses, spyware, phishing scams and other malware

GFI WebMonitor also offers web security features that allow you to define policies which control what type of files your users can download – blocking dangerous file types such as executables and others like MP3s, on a per user or per IP basis.  GFI WebMonitor uses multiple antivirus engines to scan all downloads for viruses, spyware and malware, and lowers the risk of social engineering by blocking access to phishing websites.  It also allows you to monitor and block MSN/Live Messenger chat sessions and file transfers while its HTTPS scanning ensures that users do not bypass your web security measures by downloading files through an HTTPS-encrypted channel.

Why use GFI WebMonitor?

• Increase productivity and reduce cyberslacking – time wasted by employees online – through granular monitoring and management of employee web browsing habits
• Formulate and enforce an effective Internet Usage Policy
• Maximise available bandwidth by controlling what type of sites can be visited, setting time and bandwidth thresholds, and through proxy caching
• Protect the network from dangerous downloads in real time by managing what type of files users can download and benefitting from multiple antivirus engines to scan for viruses and other malware
• Block socially-engineered phishing scam websites and prevent data leakage through such sites
• Scan HTTPS-encrypted traffic for additional security.

GFI WebMonitor™ is available in three editions:

• WebFilter Edition: Includes time- and bandwidth-based browsing control, as well as website categorisation and URL filtering
• WebSecurity Edition: Includes download control, virus scanning through multiple anti-virus engines, anti-phishing and MSN/Live Messenger control
• UnifiedProtection Edition: Combines both WebFilter and WebSecurity editions

The features below are available in all editions.  Features available exclusively in a particular edition are listed further down on this page.

Controlled Access to the Configuration and Monitoring Interface
GFI WebMonitor allows you to select which users can access the program’s configuration and monitoring interfaces.  You can assign rights based on either the IP of the computer from which access is being made or the domain-authenticated username of the client trying to load the configuration.  Only users in GFI WebMonitor’s authorised users or IP list will be given access.

Monitor or Block a Connection in Real Time
Administrators can see what websites users are currently browsing and what files are being downloaded.  An active connection, browsing session or download can easily be blocked, simply by clicking the block connection icon.  This proves very useful if you need to interrupt the download of an overlarge file.

Top Policy Breakers
GFI WebMonitor reports details on all users who were stopped by GFI WebMonitor from breaching your company's Internet Usage Policy.  Such breaches may include browsing restricted sites, downloading of malware infected files or file types that are blocked through download control policies.

Monitor Hidden Downloads
GFI WebMonitor can be configured to display a download progress window while a file is being downloaded and scanned.  The file can then be obtained by clicking the ‘Save’ button in the download progress window.  Some pieces of malware rely on the ability to download further files from the web to complete their infection of a computer.  Not being aware of the GFI WebMonitor download progress window and not being able to get past it, such pieces of malware are blocked in their tracks.  Download progress windows for which the file is not retrieved can be monitored so as to identify infections with such malicious applications performing “hidden downloads” – which can include Trojans, spyware and others.

Allow Exceptions Through Whitelist and Blacklist
Any URL or user or IP can be added permanently or temporarily to the whitelist or blacklist which will supersede all web filtering and web security policies.  For example, you could temporarily grant access to a particular user for his or her personal webmail account for a specified period of time, say over employee lunch breaks.

Proxy Caching
GFI WebMonitor implements caching, such that files and other objects/resources are delivered to the end-user from a cache on the GFI WebMonitor machine when possible, thus improving performance and reducing bandwidth consumption.

HTTPS Scanning
GFI WebMonitor can decrypt SSL-encrypted web traffic, scan its contents for malware, and re-encrypt it.  This extends the granularity of filtering and control offered by GFI WebMonitor through download control and virus scanning policies to such encrypted traffic.

Support for Virtual Environments
Organisations that are currently using or plan to use virtualisation on their network can still install and use a range of GFI products with confidence.  GFI WebMonitor supports and runs on the most common virtualisation technologies in use, namely VMware, Microsoft Virtual Server and Microsoft Hyper-V.

Features of GFI WebMonitor - WebFilter Edition

Time-based Browsing Policies
With GFI WebMonitor, an administrator can define policies based on browsing time.  For example, the administrator can allow User X to browse news category sites for only one hour per day.  When users exceed their time allowance threshold, a notification page is displayed informing them that their allowed browsing time has been used up.  Such policies can be defined for specific websites or entire categories of websites.

Bandwidth-based Browsing Policies
The administrator can also define policies based on bandwidth thresholds.  For example, the administrator can allow User X to download a maximum of 100 MB per week.  When users exceed their bandwidth threshold, a notification page is displayed informing them that their bandwidth quota for the defined period has been reached.  These policies, too, can be defined for specific websites or entire categories of websites.

WebGrade™ Database Coverage of over 205m URLs
GFI WebMonitor allows you to define web browsing policies restricting access to particular categories of websites to time or bandwidth thresholds of your choice, on a per user or per IP basis.

The WebGrade database offers coverage of over 205 million domains and extensive URL coverage across multiple languages.  Due to the constantly changing nature of the web, GFI WebMonitor also queries GFI servers for categorisation of URLs that are not found in the local cached database.  If a URL is found to be uncategorised, it is processed by the server and added to the database.

WebFilter Policy Exceptions
Apart from a generic blacklist/whitelist, the administrator can also define site exceptions for each particular policy.  A typical example will be to block all news sites except www.cnn.com.

Mitigate Legal Liability
Without the ability to exercise some form of management over what your users are browsing, you leave yourself open to legal liability in a variety of ways.  Provide your employees with safe, well managed access to the Internet while on your premises and you will safeguard your company, your employees and your bottom line.

Features of GFI WebMonitor - WebSecurity Edition

User/Group/IP-based Download Control Policies - Manage which File Types Users Can Download
You can create multiple user/group/IP-based download control policies to reflect the organisation’s security policies, blocking the download of particular file types (such as Javascript, MP3, MPEG, exe, and more) for particular users, groups or IP addresses.  Dangerous files (for example, Trojan downloader programs) often attempt to penetrate a system masked as an innocuous file.  GFI WebMonitor analyses and detects the real file types HTTP/FTP file downloads.

Scan Downloaded Files with Multiple Antivirus Engines
GFI WebMonitor uses multiple virus scanners to protect you against inadvertently downloading malicious files.  Using multiple scanners reduces the average time taken to obtain the latest virus signatures, greatly reducing the risk to your site by each new virus.  Also, since each engine has its own heuristics and methods, each brings its own unique strength in detecting and correcting for the ever-increasing variety of viruses.  Overall, more antivirus engines mean more virus protection.  GFI WebMonitor is bundled with the Norman and BitDefender antivirus engines.  It automatically checks and updates the Norman and BitDefender definition files as they become available.  The GFI WebMonitor price includes updates for one year.

To achieve greater security and enhance the benefits gained by scanning via multiple antivirus engines, users can add the Kaspersky SuperSecure antivirus engine, available as an optional add-on.  The Kaspersky SuperSecure database includes support for the detection of malicious software that can perform remote administration, key logging, password detection, automatic dial-up to paid sites, and more.  GFI WebMonitor automatically checks and updates the Kaspersky definition files as they become available.

Protect Against Socially Engineered Phishing Websites
Phishing is a social engineering technique that is used by malicious hackers to acquire personal information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details.  These sites are designed to lead users to believe that they are passing on their details to a genuine company.  Online shopping and credit card companies are among the most targeted phishing websites.  GFI WebMonitor protects users from the potential risks of social engineering by blocking access to phishing websites.  This is done through the use of an auto-updatable database of phishing URLs.

MSN control
Monitor and block MSN and MS Live Messenger incoming and outgoing messages through GFI WebMonitor’s IM Control Policies.

GFI WebMonitor for ISA/TMG
GFI WebMonitor is also available as a dedicated plug-in for Microsoft’s Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server and Threat Management Gateway Server (TMG).  GFI WebMonitor seamlessly integrates with ISA/TMG, complementing the powerful firewalling features while giving IT Administrators the ability to get a much clearer picture of what type of traffic is being filtered, what type of Internet requests are being sent to the server and the ability to apply policies and rules based on IP, user or groups.