A content control filtering service can help organizations reduce risks from malware and improve their online security profile by eliminating access to website likely to contain trojans, viruses and other infections. By implementing an Internet content control filter, organizations can also benefit from increased productivity and – in certain circumstances – from increased sales.
Reduce Risks from Malware with an Internet Content Control Filter
Malware can seriously damage an organization´s online infrastructure. When an infection infiltrates an organization´s network, it can corrupt, steal or encrypt data. The cost of resolving the damage can be substantial and, in several cases, has been known to force an organization out of business.
A content control filtering service reduces the risks from malware by preventing Internet users from visiting websites likely to be harboring malware – including apparently safe websites with SSL certificates – and from downloading file types typically associated with online infections.
Services for controlling Internet content do this by checking an Internet user´s request to visit a particular website against blacklists, category filters and keyword filters. Only provided that access is not prohibited by the filter´s parameters will access be allowed.
How Services for Controlling Internet Content Can Increase Productivity
Although some time engaged in non-work related online activities has been shown to have positive benefits for the workforce, there are some employees who take “cyberslacking” too far or who access inappropriate material and create a hostile working environment for colleagues.
By implementing a content control filtering service, organizations can restrict access to productivity-sapping online activities by user, user group or department, or by using time-based controls. In this way, organizations can prevent excessive cyberslacking and increase productivity.
By blocking access to websites that host inappropriate material, organizations can also create a safer working environment for their employees and eliminate potential HR issues or legal claims against the organization for constructive dismissal.
How a Content Control Filtering Service Can Increase Sales
Many retail organizations acknowledge that the provision of free Internet access encourages customers to their store, bar or restaurant. However, providing unprotected free Internet access can have the opposite effect and deter customers from entering your premises.
If customers are exposed to objectionable content being watched on another customer´s device, they are unlikely to wish to return. Similarly if a customer downloads a virus while using your free Internet service, he or she is likely to spread the word that your service is unsecure and not to be used.
Both of these potential issues can be overcome with a content control filtering service, which has the added benefit of producing reports about your customers´ browsing activities. The content of these reports can be used to target special offers at your existing customers, attract new customers and increase sales.
Bandwidth Control – A Further Benefit of an Internet Content Control Filter
Irrespective of the industry your organization conducts business in, maintaining sufficient bandwidth for your organization to operate with maximum efficiency can sometimes be a problem. With insufficient bandwidth, employees within an organization may be unable to access the Internet or reply to emails.
Organizations experiencing these problems have the options of paying for more bandwidth or limiting each user´s bandwidth usage. By restricting access to bandwidth-hogging video streaming websites, an Internet content control filter can ensure that every employee has adequate bandwidth all of the time.
Bandwidth restrictions do not have to be implemented at all times. Services for controlling Internet content usually have time-based controls that can be used to implement restrictions during peak traffic times and then relax the restrictions during quieter periods.
Evaluating Services for Controlling Intent Content
There are many different products on the market that provide a content control filtering service – and some will be more suitable for your organization than others depending on your organization´s size, the nature of its operations, and the flexibility that your organization requires from its Internet content control filter.
Flexibility is not the only consideration to take into account. Your selected content control filtering service should be compatible with your existing hardware and software systems, and scalable – so that if your organization expands, your Internet content control filter is capable of protecting all your users and devices.
Primarily you should ensure that your selected Internet content control filter uses a combination of blacklists, category filters and keyword filters to maximize granularity, that it provides multi-lingual filtering capabilities and – for maximum protection – that it is capable of SSL inspection.
Speak with WebTitan about our Content Control Filtering Service
WebTitan Cloud is a DNS-based Internet content control filter. This means that implementation simply requires the redirection of your server´s DNS. There is no hardware to purchase or software to install, yet WebTitan Cloud provides as high a level of protection against online threats as any other content control filtering service – if not higher.
As well as being easy to implement, WebTitan Cloud offers simple configuration via a web-based portal with an intuitive interface configure and low ongoing management overheads. We believe that our content control filtering service offers most uncomplicated and cost-effective way of protecting your wired and wireless networks from the risks of malware.
WebTitan Cloud Features
- DNS-based implementation with no hardware purchases or software downloads.
- Granular, multi-lingual controls with SSL inspection for maximum flexibility and protection.
- Block apps and file types within a web page without blocking access to the web page
- Imperceptible latency irrespective of the number of devices connected to the service.
- Automatically updated blacklists and category filters, and automatically scheduled reports.
- Access keys available to administrators to override parameter settings when required.
- Services for controlling Internet content available for MSPs and re-sellers in white-label format.
Speak with WebTitan today about our content control filtering service and you will be invited to try our Internet content control filter free for fourteen days. After the trial period has expired, you are under no obligation to continue with our content control filtering service; however, we are confident that once you have experienced browsing the web in a protected environment, you will never want to return to the malware-invested World Wide Web. You can also trial our anti spam software – SpamTitan – to keep your inboxes spam free and protect against email threats.
