The internet is an amazing technology; I believe it is one of the most important inventions of the century. Here we have an incredible research tool whereby we can look practically anything up, we can communicate with anybody in any country in the world in a microsecond, and there seems to be an endless variety of other things we can do on the ever-growing internet infrastructure.
As with any widespread adoption of a technology, there are those who abuse it. Those of us who use the internet on a daily basis know that there are dangers lurking, and precautions we must take. The most prominent problems are viruses, spyware, phishing scams, and spam. It is now estimated that 80 percent of all email traffic is spam. As a computer consultant, I can attest that probably the same percentage of PC repairs involve removing viruses or spyware.
I recently attended the Xchange Canada tradeshow at the Whistler Fairmont. Many of the exhibitors there were showcasing devices and strategies for battling the internet demons mentioned above. One that caught my attention was a device called ThreatWall. This is a gateway device (meaning that it sits between your office network and the internet, like a firewall), and its job is to defend against viruses, spam and spyware. It is also a content filtering device, which means that it can be programmed to disallow access to specific websites and types of websites that are considered hazardous. An example of a hazardous type of site would be “warez” or “cracks” sites. These are sites that promote software piracy and publish “crack” codes allowing software pirates to install illegal copies of software. Anyone foolish enough to visit such a site is asking for trouble – these sites are LOADED with viruses and Trojans and god knows what else.
The ThreatWall content filter can ban visits to such sites, thereby reducing the danger of virus and spyware attack, but that’s not all a content filter can do. Any business that provides internet access to their employees will know that there is a very real temptation for employees to waste time surfing the net, composing personal emails, downloading games, or chatting with messenger programs. As a former employer myself, giving my staff unrestricted accesss to the internet, I know that this was a problem. According to a Web survey conducted by America Online and Salary.com, the average worker admits to frittering away 2.09 hours per day surfing the net, not counting lunch. Over the course of a year (and even after accounting for time employers expect to be wasted), that adds up to $759 billion spent on salaries for which companies receive no apparent benefit. The ThreatWall device, with some programming by your network administrator, defends against all internet activity that is not business-relevant. It can even be programmed to unlock access to sites or messenger programs during lunch hour, and then relock the restrictions during work hours.
As for the Threatwall’s ability to defend against viruses and so forth, the device defends on two levels. The Threatwall hardware device itself blocks threats, but it also installs client software to each of the workstations on its network. Once installed, updates are “pushed” to each workstation as they become available. The ThreatWall device itself is automatically updated as often as every 5 minutes. Used in conjunction with a firewall, which you likely already have, your network should be virtually impervious to those myriad internet pests.
The ThreatWall product so impressed me that I became a dealer. If you wish to learn more or would like a demo unit added to your network for a free evaluation, please contact me.
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