What's new in GFI WebMonitor™ 2011 R3?

Released: October 06, 2011

WebSecurity Edition:

Blocklisting of malicious websites – powered by ThreatTrack 

GFI WebMonitor 2011 R3 now provides the ability to proactively block websites serving malicious content and allows you to automatically blacklist websites that are known to be distributing malware, phishing content or serving content with malicious intent.

Malware attacks are most effective in the first eight hours of being launched. GFI WebMonitor therefore uses a “Known Bad Websites” list – powered by ThreatTrack – that is updated every hour to ensure that even the latest zero-hour threat is immediately blocked. So as not to permanently label legitimate websites which have been temporarily compromised, websites are revisited often and are automatically phased out of the list when they no longer pose a threat.

ThreatTrack is powered by GFI Sandbox™, our automated malware analysis tool.

Support for additional IM clients

This release adds support for blocking a number of thin IM clients such as the ones below:

• Yahoo! Messenger
• Gmail chat
• Instant Messaging portals (includes Facebook chat)

In addition it includes an Auto-Update engine to be able to distribute new signatures as they are discovered – so you do not need to worry about employees finding new ways around the system.

WebFilter Edition: 

Website reputation-based filtering

Waiting for a website to be classified as dangerous can be a risky game to play. Proactive protection from Internet threats can save you from being infected and therefore from potentially devastating consequences. 

GFI WebMonitor now uses reputation-based filtering, which checks the reputation score of a web site or IP address to predict the security risk involved in visiting that website. Website reputation is calculated from hundreds of metrics that include infection history, age of establishment, site popularity, site content and many other;  a score is then awarded  from 1 (high risk) to 100 (trust worthy).

Website reputation-based filtering adds a proactive layer of security as well as enabling flexible Internet access policies. For example, with GFI WebMonitor, you can enable access to "Shopping" websites while simultaneously providing protection by blocking access to low-reputation shopping sites.

Streaming media blocking policies

As audio and video streaming has become an integral part of many websites, GFI WebMonitor now allows you to save bandwidth by blocking streaming media. Audio and video content are a routine feature on news, entertainment and sports and this can quickly create a network bottleneck especially in peak times or during events of interest.

Streaming media policies enable you to allow access to the sites which are providing the media while blocking access to the actual stream, ensuring that a healthy medium is reached.

This feature also includes an auto-update engine to be able to distribute new signatures as they are discovered.

Soft blocking – Warn and allow

You are now able to allow trusted users to override blocking after warning them that a URL is in breach of company policy; putting into practice the concept of self-policing.

Access Monitoring Activity Log

In the new edition of GFI WebMonitor you can see an exact trail of what a user has done, including the time when a specific website was visited. It offers an option to view a listing of sites/pages which have been accessed together with the time and date of when they were accessed.

New features in GFI WebMonitor™ 2011 R2

Released: May 17, 2011

All editions:

Anonymization of personal data

In some countries, notably Italy and Germany, the law requires that any personally identifiable information is not easily available, and should be revealed only under certain circumstances (e.g., investigation by relevant authorities). GFI WebMonitor 2011 R2 now helps comply with this law – by providing an option to enable anonymization of personal data, which makes all personal data in reports visible only by using the four-eye principle(which requires at least two people to witness/approve a certain activity).

WebFilter edition:

Enforcing of SafeSearch

With GFI WebMonitor 2011 R2, it is now possible to mandate SafeSearch on search engines. This option is typically customizable at the user level, i.e., the user can disable it, however, when enabling this feature, the personal option will be overridden and the one mandated by GFI WebMonitor will be used instead. This feature is particularly useful in educational institutions where objectionable material should never make it to the user’s browser.

New features in GFI WebMonitor™ 2011

Released: March 8, 2011

Proxy caching

GFI WebMonitor 2011 (standard version) 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 end-users’ web browsing experience and reducing bandwidth consumption and associated costs.

HTTPS scanning

GFI WebMonitor 2011 (standard version) 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.

Time-based browsing policies

With GFI WebMonitor 2011, 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 permitted browsing time has been used up. These policies can help enhance employee productivity by enforcing control on the amount of time spent browsing the Internet.

Bandwidth-based browsing policies

GFI WebMonitor 2011 also allows the administrator to 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. Advanced options also allow the administrator to configure a bandwidth threshold for a particular category of users. This helps administrators in managing bandwidth usage by enforcing control on the amount of bandwidth consumed by users.

Improved interactive access and blocked activity monitoring reports

GFI WebMonitor 2011 allows one to interactively review the browsing habits of users with the ability to drill down by users, categories, domains and sites, in order to determine, for example, which site categories are being browsed by whom, which users are browsing most, etc. It is also possible to interactively drill down into the policy infringements trapped by GFI WebMonitor, with the ability to do this by users, categories, policy type and policies, in order to determine, for example, which category of sites has caused most policy breaches.

More information about GFI Webmonitor:

Overview | Features | Download FREE Trial | Pricing