Barracuda's New Web Filter 310, anti-spyware firewall is for the protective and upbeat IT administrator. The appliance prevents new spyware and viruses from penetrating and infecting the network.
Barracuda's new Web Filter 310, filters content and blocks various applications to protect your network. The Web Filter 310 boasts of an extensive feature set and competencies. Regardless of its feature rich capabilities, the Web File 310 is completely easy to use and extremely customizable, for e.g. a previously determined malicious spyware, trying to gain access to your network from multiple URLs, is completely blocked and the URLs are recorded. Administrators can instantly test changes made to filtering categories, whitelists and blacklists from within Web Filter 310.
Web Filter 310 takes a multi stratum approach to blocking spywares and other malwares. Although the device's strength lies in blocking spywares, it blocks unauthorized Web sites, viruses, adwares, malicious web content and unauthorized web content. Barracuda's Web Filter 310 can also block peer-to-peer services, IM, file downloads, Web-based email, music sites, proxies, chat sites, etc. if required. 57 categories, which are predefined, are identified by Barracuda, ranging from mild offenders like gambling and malicious networking sites to the strongest of offenders, like porn sites, warez sites, etc.
Deploying and installing the Barracuda Web Filter 310 is a matter of minutes and the whole process is a walk in the park. The web filter can be placed infront of the firewall or behind, depending on the network requirements and the IT administrator. Various test results show that the Web Filter blocks various websites that have embedded software or try to download spyware on to your computer. One step ahead, the hardware detects spywares phoning home and prompts the users to download and run the Barracuda Spyware Removal tool, once installed on to the server IT administrators do not need to install the tool on all the client machines, thus resolving the problem of a previous infection quickly and effortlessly. The results also prompted that, unlike many other hardware spyware firewalls which block sites based on URL outlines and domain names, while Barracuda's Web Filter 310 does block porn sites, the Web Filter 310 allows frequently banned yet innocent and harmless URLs to pass through, such as sex educational and informational sites, cancer information sites or sites with prompt words embedded within their inoffensive domain names.
Group accounts and Individual driven Internet surfing policies can be implemented using Barracuda's Web Filter 310, the hardware is LDAP-enabled, thus making the task of assigning and creating Internet surfing policies, for IT administrators, effortless.
Barracuda's Web Filter 310 does not have separate management software. It is managed by web interface which can be accessed by any client machine within the network and connected to the Web Filter, provided that the Web Filter is configured during the initial setup with an IP, gateway and DNS, which is done by directly connecting a keyboard, a mouse and a monitor to the Web Filter 310. The Web Filter 310 also boasts of extensive reporting capabilities, administrators can view log history and various reports on user behavior, traffic patterns, bandwidth usage, etc. It can also store six moths of traffic history.
The Web Filter 310 can support 200 concurrent users. It updates itself automatically every hour with updates of new antispyware rules from Barracuda Central, the company's online technology center. These updates include databases for spyware removal, signatures, web sites and protocols as well as antivirus definitions.
Support offered from Barracuda Central is excellent so to speak, the unit itself can open up a tunnel session with the technology center. Basic support is also offered by resellers, certified resellers can often offer in-depth support. Barracuda also implements an instant replacement service, in which the new unit is shipped the next business day.
The black unit is sleek and attractive, weighs 17 pounds and costs $1,999.
