ContentKeeper® Web Filtering System - Features

ContentKeeper® Administration

The administrative user interface is a point and click web browser-based GUI interface supporting local and remote access through any industry standard browser including Microsoft IE5.0+ and AOL.   Sessions can utilize SSL or SSH for secure remote access.   Access is fully protected by encrypted passwords and can be configured to utilize one time password control if desired, i.e. RSA.

The main ContentKeeper® Administration screen forms the basis of the interface, and presents an intuitive point and click menu to the user.   Subsequent screens present input forms and selection mechanisms as needed to the administrator.

The Administrative interface has been designed to be as intuitive as possible for users, and comes equipped with extensive help facilities and explanatory text where required.

The administrative interface is fully documented and illustrated in the ContentKeeper® Enterprise Administration Guide .

Master/Slave Multiple-Appliance Administration
In situations where multiple ContentKeeper® appliances are deployed (e.g. for redundancy, load-balancing or where multiple Internet access points exist) - this facility provides an easy, single-point administration capability.   Simply designate one master appliance, and multiple slave appliances, and any configuration changes to the master appliance are automatically propagated. Note that ContentKeeper® license pricing is based on number of users protected, not appliances.

Multiple Administration Accounts
The Administration Accounts feature offers role-based access control for multiple administration staff.   Each administrator can be configured with individual access to a subset of all system components and functionality.

ContentKeeper® in Enterprise Networks
ContentKeeper® is completely compatible with any network configuration.   ContentKeeper® runs well in environments utilizing Microsoft ISA server, Windows 2000 Servers, Active Directory and Windows XP and Vista desktops.

ContentKeeper® is capable of being deployed in any IP based network environment, across a range of technology platforms including Microsoft Windows 2000, NT40,Win98, Win95, DOS, Windows XP, Citrix Metaframe (all versions), Unix, Linux, Mainframes, AS400s, VAX, Novell or any IP-capable platform.

ContentKeeper® can utilize NetBIOS, DNS, TCP/IP, NTLM or Basic proxy authentication for user name resolution, reporting and policy enforcement. It supports NT40, Active Directory, Novell eDirectory and LDAP directory services.

ContentKeeper® has been designed as an Adaptive Transparent Ethernet Bridge - enabling simple installation even within complex enterprise environments.   It is completely transparent to and compatible with other network devices.   The ContentKeeper® Appliance 'sits' across the network and 'watches' the information going past - intercepting URL requests or calls when it identifies that a user should not have access to that particular site.

ContentKeeper® runs as a dedicated standalone system. The transparent Ethernet bridge design (i.e. no IP addresses on the two bridge ports) totally removes any incompatibility issues (with proxy servers, firewalls, routers etc.) and makes the unit virtually hack-proof.   This also allows for a very simple and quick installation, i.e. no IP address re-configurations, no desktop install or re-configurations, no loading software on an existing production system with all the compatibility and reliability problems that may surface.   It also removes the filtering load off proxy servers and firewalls allowing them to get on with their real jobs in a faster and more efficient fashion.   This usually results in faster Internet access.

Capacity
Existing enterprise, academic and Federal Government sites have user loads similar to or in excess of most customer requirements (e.g. existing North American ContentKeeper® customers include sites with several tens of thousands of users running on a single CK Appliance ).   ContentKeeper® has actually been designed to accommodate enterprise and carrier environments with user requirements stretching into the millions, i.e. the product is infinitely scaleable via load-balancing configurations.

Block Page Customization
ContentKeeper® provides the flexibility to use either an internally generated "Block" page, or a custom, user-defined page.   Custom Block pages can be served from either the ContentKeeper® appliance or any client site intranet server.   The custom block page can contain any graphic, streaming video or whatever is desired.

Cut and paste web page variables and code are made available so that user, site, category and policy information can be displayed on the custom block page.   Examples in HTML, JAVA and ColdFusion are provided.   A Category Alias naming facility is provided to allow category names on block pages to be displayed in customized form (e.g. in another language).

Configuring customized block pages is as simple as selecting from a Menu -> General Settings -> "Block page Customization" and entering the IP address for your customized page to be served from the appliance or intranet server.

ContentKeeper® is massively scaleable and is able to handle sites from 25 users up to potentially hundreds of thousands of users.   The system has been designed to accommodate high volume, fault tolerant, high availability, and load-balanced environments as well as small scale office or school sites.

The ContentKeeper® Datacenter is a vital part of the ContentKeeper® service.   It collects, processes, analyses, categorize, re-categorizes and distributes website URLs 24 hours a day 7 days a week.   The AI - Artificial Intelligence engines, web-crawlers and the software that drives them are constantly improved and upgraded as new techniques are developed.   This is where all the heavy duty, time consuming back-end processing occurs.   Our aim is to produce the most current and most accurate control list available.

ContentKeeper® has a "hassle free" registration and activation system which is handled totally automatically with no user involvement at all. Just connect the system to the Internet and it will look after itself.

ContentKeeper® has an optional High Availability Module (HAM). The HAM is an electro-mechanical/magnetic Ethernet switch (on an industry standard PCI card).   This module insures network connectivity even in the event of a hardware, software, or power failure to the device. The software has also been engineered to be robust. It has an integrated auto-health monitoring and checking system which can correct minor errors, and by reporting its status to the HAM every few seconds, help ensure that the system is fully operational at all times.

ContentKeeper® has been certified by the Australian Federal Government's Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) for use by ISPs and other organizations as a central site filtering system to satisfy the requirements of the Broadcasting Act in related to restricted sites. ContentKeeper's® standard control list contains the ABA's official take down list in its "Government Blocking List" category.

Recent Items
The ContentKeeper® product is continuously being enhanced, mainly in response to user requests and suggestions from the installed base of both large and small clients.   Please consult recent product "Release Notes" for details of newly-added features and enhancements, for example:

SSL Filtering - Comprehensive SSL Tunneling Defenses
New features have been introduced to ContentKeeper® that allow it to perform SSL Filtering. Three modes are available:

• Block all SSL and allow a White List only approach (most secure) OR
• Certificate-Based Filtering with full SSL Certificate Validation and Revocation checking (maintains the integrity of the end-to-end SSL connection) with multiple controls.
  AND/OR
• Full in-tunnel inspection of SSL traffic in clear text with Web filtering and Antivirus/Malicious code packet-level inspection, including ContentKeeper® Category-based decryption bypass controls i.e. for E-banking ( ContentKeeper® SSL Inspector and ContentKeeper® AV - optional add on modules).

Temporary URL Bypass - is a feature which will allow administrators and other supervisors to temporarily bypass blocking for a specified period, for example, for the duration of a classroom session at a school.

Syslog Spooling - allows the ContentKeeper® appliance to continuously off-load log files as the data accumulates, rather than tying up your network with one huge daily log file off-load.

Dynamic Activity Viewer - lets you observe selected internet or blocking activity in real time, as traffic passes through the ContentKeeper® appliance.

Master/Slave Administration; Administration Accounts - enables easy administration of multiple ContentKeeper® appliances or secure delegation of administration duties to staff.

Google Image Blocking - block Google search engine thumbnail images before they enter the workplace.

URL Argument Keyword Blocking - keywords may be used to prevent unacceptable search parameters in search engine requests. ContentKeeper® provides a global list of keywords, which local administrators may modify anytime.

Force "Google Strict SafeSearch" - ContentKeeper® can now override attempts to bypass filtering in search engine requests - by forcing all searches to use Google's Strict SafeSearch mode.   This feature is implemented by blocking all search engine requests except Google - which is easily accomplished by ContentKeeper's® filtering policy settings interface.

Custom Categories - administrators can now create their own database of URLs, arranged into categories of any definition.   As well, administrators can modify local versions of the existing ContentKeeper® Category definitions by adding URLs to those filtering methods.

• Improved efficiencies, cost savings & benefits.
• Ease of installation and management - designed to absolutely minimize administration costs
• Extensive and fully-flexible facilities to Monitor, Manage and Control internet access.
• Dedicated, efficient stand alone device - removes filter-processing load from proxy server, caching servers or firewalls.
• Designed for both
• High Availability/High Throughput/Load Balanced environments as well as
• Small / medium site installations.
• Hack-proof, transparent Ethernet Bridge-based design - easy installation, no desktop re-configuration, no IP address re-numbering.
• Bi-Level Filtering using BOTH Control List with Real-Time Blocking Engine and Closed-Loop Collaborative Filtering via Network Data Center.
• Hassle Free - fully automatic system registration and activation keying (no user involvement).
• Annual subscription includes- software license, hourly Control List updates, full URL database, software updates and phone, fax and email support.

• Compatible with Microsoft(TM), Novell(TM), Unix, Linux(TM) etc. networked computer and desktop environments.
• Network and Operating System independent.
• Compatible with any IP-based proxy servers, firewalls, caching devices, routers etc.
• Proxy server or stand alone support.
• Intel Pro100s Network Interface Card custom settings control for 10Mbits/100Mbits etc.
• Web based PC-to-Server Time Synchronization facility.
• User resolution by all common methods including:   NetBIOS, DNS, Microsoft NTLM, Active Directory, LDAP, eDirectory, Radius, etc. Network & IP addressing with full Subnet-masking or transparent proxy header username resolution.

• Fault tolerant hardware and application design.
• Secure, hardened, trimmed down, fault-tolerant, high-performance Linux platform
• Optional High Availability Module (HAM) bypass - PCI electro-magnetic Ethernet switch.
• Built-in Partial or Full backup and restore facility.
• Database update, network connectivity and system status monitoring and display.

• Combined Control List and Real-Time Blocking Engine.
• Extensive Local Control List containing millions of URLs - Hourly Control List updates.
• Closed-Loop Collaborative Filtering for URL worldwide collection, analysis, categorization and editing.
• Instant Custom URL blocking / unblocking with wild-cards.
• Blocks whether site is represented by domain, URL, IP address or proxy re-direction.
• Manages and controls streaming media, video, voice, music, file downloads, P2P, etc.
• File-download management by file type (customizable and extensible).
• Filtering control by user, group, IP network address and subnet mask, user and object.
• The latest developments in real time blocking, analysis and classification engine.
• Automatic Control List updates and Software updates using ContentKeeper®'s TrickleFeed(TM) Technology (with site overrides).
• Filtering on single and multiple port numbers (customizable).
• Control List blocking by category of banner ads and page frames.
• Instant and permanent URL and/or category unblocking - via local Control List, or instant time-period-based URL and/or category unblocking - (temporary unblocking with automatic re-blocking).
• Instant local reclassification of URLs.
• Automatic submission of re-classified URLs to Data Center for manual checking and worldwide reclassification.
• Per-Category Live Filtering On/Off Controls; Aggressiveness controls for live filtering.
• On-board Multi-language dictionary support.
• DNS and BIOS machine name stripping.
• Global Filtering Include/Exclude by full network, IP address and subnet-masking facility.
• Per category time of day controls.
• PSUs - configurable Personal Surfing Units -allows flexible policies on how much time and resources users are allowed to use for personal user per day (eg. eBanking, shopping etc.)
• Policy Expiry - set expiry dates for temporary policies.
• ContentKeeper® Datacenter continuous powerful back-end processing, analysis, categorization and re-classification of URLs.
• Google Image Search Result replacement - masks thumbnail images of categorized image URLs with generic icons.
• Force Google "Strict SafeSearch" feature - restrict ALL search engine requests to this mode
• Keyword Blocking - define a list of keywords unacceptable for use in search engine request URL arguments
• Custom Categories - define filtering categories with any URLs; modify standard categories

• Fully local and remote Browser-based Management.
• Full user, group and IP-based Filter Policy Management.
• Master/Slave Multiple-Appliance Administration - provides a single-point administration facility with automated synchronization when multiple appliances are deployed.
• Role-based Multi-Administrator Accounts - allows multiple system administration accounts, with selected access to administration features.
• Audit Trail - tracks administration activities, including multi-administration accounts.
• Block/Coach/Authenticate filtering modes - standard or customizable screens facility.
• On-line and off-line, single and multiple policy verification facility.
• Global policy for making instant changes across all policies.
• Default catch-all policy; Full policy cloning.
• Category Aliases facility - custom category renaming.
• Get and Post custom blocking page facility with cut and paste HTML examples and off-line testing facility.
• Full web-based HAM query, online/bypass and configuration support.
• User and/or administrator-authenticated URL Re-Classification Facility.
• Bridge Device settings and status screens.
• Monitoring/Silent Mode with full reporting capability.
• Extensible Directory and Object services.
• Local user and groups database.

• Real Time and Historical Reporting.
• Dynamic Activity Viewer - watch internet and filtering activity in real-time.
• Advanced Reporting Module - Comprehensive customizable enterprise reporting with automatic report generation and delivery via web or email from you windows PC or server.
• Full policy reporting facility.
• Current username resolution web based reporting.
• Extensive Webalizer based reporting.
• Current Internet Activity by site and bandwidth usage web based reporting screen.
• Current site and file Blocking web based reporting screen.
• Automated log file off-load facility - automatically distribute log files to other servers.
• Easy Browser-based log download and backup facility.
• Browser based log reports.
• Silent-Mode Savings Report - input cost parameters to estimate direct savings based on silent-mode statistics.
• Internet Activity Graph - displays today's browsing activity over time for hits and download volume

No Obligation Evaluations
A fully functional ContentKeeper® installation is available for a 21 day evaluation without obligation in either the Appliance option preconfigured for your network; or as an ISO download with auto-installer for installation on a customer-provided server.

The Advanced Reporting Module (ARM) is also available for evaluation and represents a popular option for more sophisticated reporting requirements. 

Join the US DoD, Federal Agencies, state and municipal governments, enterprise and academic organizations of all size and experience the advantages of ContentKeeper® in your network.

Visit the Demo & Downloads page to register for an evaluation or just contact us.