GFI WebMonitor 2011

GFI's WebMonitor 2011 is software-only, so that you can pick the hardware to host it. Three versions are available in. The WebSecurity Edition offers triple-engine anti-virus scanning plus phishing protection. The associated fee we've shown includes the Norman and BitDefender engines; the Kaspersky option costs extra.

The WebFilter Edition provides URL category filtering only, while the Unified Protection Edition on review here brings everything together under one roof.

There's also a WebMonitor plug-in for Microsoft's ISA Server and Forefront TMG 2010. The previous doesn't provide any web filtering services so this might be a great tool, but TMG's Web Protection Service subscription activates its own web filtering. However, WebMonitor's reporting add-on is lots better than TMG's.

The standalone version supports simple proxy or gateway modes where the previous requires one network port and the latter needs two at the host system. We prefer gateway mode, because the simple proxy needs your router to dam web traffic coming from the LAN.

We deployed WebMonitor 2011 on a Windows Server 2008 R2 host, however it can run just as easily on a Windows 7 system. The console opens with a dashboard of tables and graphs so that you can keep a detailed eye on all web activity. That you may choose which displays you would like, move them around using drag and drop and choose a refresh time. After installation, it starts downloading the virus engine updates and signature files. The URL category database can be downloaded and a mild version is pre-packaged so basic filtering may be applied immediately. All updates are handled by WebMonitor and the default checking interval will be reduced to each hour if required. For web filtering we expect it is time GFI moved into the cloud, which avoids the necessity to download a complete category database.

Users might be required to authenticate with the WebMonitor proxy before web browsing is allowed. The elemental mode requires them to authenticate with the WebMonitor host, while the integrated option supports Active Directory using a gaggle policy object. Policies are used extensively to govern web access and might be applied to users, groups and IP addresses. The WebGrade URL database offers 76 different categories for blocking or allowing and a handy quarantine option initially blocks access and makes the user look ahead to administrative approval.

Time-based browsing policies were added that let you decide how long selected users and groups are permitted to view particular websites or categories. Another welcome feature is support for HTTPS. WebMonitor can check secure websites for malware and a handy wizard makes light work of configuration. It will probably also use its host system as an internet cache to enhance response times for popular content.

WebMonitor's integral reporting provides real-time, searchable tables for connections, blocked sites and user activity, which are exported to CSV files. However, GFI's ReportPack goes much further and it is a free add-on. To apply ReportPack it is advisable give WebMonitor access to a SQL database where it could send its log data to. We tested with SQL Server 2008 R2, but smaller firms can use SQL Express 2005.

WebMonitor 2011, then, is a fantastic option all in all.
Dave Mitchell