SafeSquid
Encyclopedia
Content-control software
Content-control software, also known as censorware or web filtering software, is a term for software designed and optimized for controlling what content is permitted to a reader, especially when it is used to restrict material delivered over the Web...
: software designed to control which websites users can access. Its developed by Office Efficiencies which is based in Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
. It also provides caching, virus scanning, usage monitoring, bandwidth control, authentication, and other features. SafeSquid is mainly used by schools, businesses, and value-added ISP
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
s.
Cost
SafeSquid is commercial software, but it is offered at zero cost to networks that have 3 or less users.Web interface
SafeSquid provides a web interface to make it easier for system administrators to configure it.Profiles
SafeSquid's "Profiles" feature lets administrators group users into groups and set different filtering settings for different groups.Additional filtering
SafeSquid allows blocking of certain MIMEMIME
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions is an Internet standard that extends the format of email to support:* Text in character sets other than ASCII* Non-text attachments* Message bodies with multiple parts...
types (file types, such as audio, video, or Flash). It allows the use of regular expressions to modify the contents of web pages before they are displayed. For example, this filtering can be used to remove Javascript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
and ActiveX
ActiveX
ActiveX is a framework for defining reusable software components in a programming language-independent way. Software applications can then be composed from one or more of these components in order to provide their functionality....
content from untrustworthy websites before serving a page to users. It is possible to configure SafeSquid to hide online ads and banners to save bandwidth and reduce distractions.
SafeSquid also can used to block porn pictures. It analyzes the graphical content like skin tone, contour, etc. to identify a pornographic image. It is a commercially distributed add-on plug-in and can be used with SafeSquid to block pornographic images. Although it is about 85%-90% accurate, it acts as a good deterrent.
Security
SafeSquid can be used to protect against virusesComputer virus
A computer virus is a computer program that can replicate itself and spread from one computer to another. The term "virus" is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, including but not limited to adware and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability...
, worms
Computer worm
A computer worm is a self-replicating malware computer program, which uses a computer network to send copies of itself to other nodes and it may do so without any user intervention. This is due to security shortcomings on the target computer. Unlike a computer virus, it does not need to attach...
, spyware
Spyware
Spyware is a type of malware that can be installed on computers, and which collects small pieces of information about users without their knowledge. The presence of spyware is typically hidden from the user, and can be difficult to detect. Typically, spyware is secretly installed on the user's...
and other malware
Malware
Malware, short for malicious software, consists of programming that is designed to disrupt or deny operation, gather information that leads to loss of privacy or exploitation, or gain unauthorized access to system resources, or that otherwise exhibits abusive behavior...
. SafeSquid features Clients for AntiVirus Daemons like Clam, F-Prot, Sophos, Kaspersky and Avast. It supports the Internet Content Adaptation Protocol
Internet Content Adaptation Protocol
The Internet Content Adaptation Protocol is a lightweight HTTP-like protocol specified in RFC 3507 which is used to extend transparent proxy servers, thereby freeing up resources and standardizing the way in which new features are implemented. ICAP is generally used to implement virus scanning,...
standard which is commonly used for connecting web filters with security software.
Cache
SafeSquid saves temporary cached copies of frequently visited websites to help save bandwidth and enhance access speed to those sites. SafeSquid can also share cache content with other caching proxy servers, using Internet Cache ProtocolInternet Cache Protocol
The Internet Cache Protocol is a protocol used for coordinating web caches. Its purpose is to find out the most appropriate location to retrieve a requested object from in the situation where multiple caches are in use at a single site...
and Cache Array Routing Protocol
Cache Array Routing Protocol
The Cache Array Routing Protocol is used in load-balancing HTTP requests across multiple proxy cache servers. It works by generating a hash for each URL requested...
. It can forward requests through any other proxy, SOCKS
SOCKS
SOCKS is an Internet protocol that routes network packets between a client and server through a proxy server. SOCKS5 additionally provides authentication so only authorized users may access a server...
4 or SOCKS
SOCKS
SOCKS is an Internet protocol that routes network packets between a client and server through a proxy server. SOCKS5 additionally provides authentication so only authorized users may access a server...
5 firewall
Firewall (computing)
A firewall is a device or set of devices designed to permit or deny network transmissions based upon a set of rules and is frequently used to protect networks from unauthorized access while permitting legitimate communications to pass....
.
Authentication
SafeSquid is PAMPluggable Authentication Modules
Pluggable authentication modules are a mechanism to integrate multiple low-level authentication schemes into a high-level application programming interface . It allows programs that rely on authentication to be written independent of the underlying authentication scheme...
-aware, and allows users to be authenticated
Authentication
Authentication is the act of confirming the truth of an attribute of a datum or entity...
from external servers like Active Directory
Active Directory
Active Directory is a directory service created by Microsoft for Windows domain networks. It is included in most Windows Server operating systems. Server computers on which Active Directory is running are called domain controllers....
, LDAP
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol is an application protocol for accessing and maintaining distributed directory information services over an Internet Protocol network...
, RADIUS
RADIUS
Remote Authentication Dial In User Service is a networking protocol that provides centralized Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting management for computers to connect and use a network service...
, or MySQL
MySQL
MySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...
. Administrators can also define user accounts manually using SafeSquid's web interface.
Monitoring
SafeSquid generates log files. Log analyzers like SawmillSawmill (software)
Sawmill is a software package for the statistical analysis and reporting of log files, with dynamic contextual filtering, 'live' data zooming, user interface customization, and custom calculated reports. Sawmill also incorporates real-time reporting and real-time alerting...
and Webalizer
Webalizer
The Webalizer is a GPL application that generates web pages of analysis, from access and usage logs, i.e. it is web log analysis software. It is one of the most commonly used web server administration tools. It was initiated by Bradford L. Barrett in 1997. Statistics commonly reported by Webalizer...
can parse the logs and generate log analysis
Log analysis
Log analysis is an art and science seeking to make sense out of computer-generated records...
reports for user monitoring.