Many IT professionals will be familiar with the IT management tool, SpiceWorks. Well, we’re delighted to see that the SpiceWorks community has voted Untangle #1 on the Best Content Filtering Appliance SpiceList. We’re also #2 on their Best Software Firewall SpiceList.
Thanks Folks!

Written by Mark Floisand

Last week we were named a Finalist in the 2010 SIIA CODiE Awards, in the category of Best Open Source Solution. This is a great honor. We’re particularly pleased that the judges especially recognized the ease which we bring to internet protection and filtering. Thanks everyone for the support.

Written by Mark Floisand

East Rutherford Fire Department, NJ, has over 80 volunteer fire and emergency service professionals that serve the community from 3 stations located throughout the community.  The Department responds to and participates in fire prevention and suppression, vehicle extrications, hazardous material incidents,  technical rescues, and all disasters, whether natural or man-made.  These services are provided 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Each fire truck and chief vehicle is equipped with a ruggedized laptop, for continuous connection back to the firehouse. Dave Tortora, Office of Technology & Communications, describes the environment: “Critical information such as maps and routes are accessed from the firehouse database en route to a rescue. These systems are connected using a virtual private network (VPN). To ensure they remain constantly up-and-running, the internet traffic is scanned and filtered to prevent viruses and malware from penetrating. “Untangle provides the VPN connectivity, spyware-, virus– and web-filtering all in one box.”

The Fire Department has two internet connections into the fire house. This provides continuity in the event that one of the internet service providers’ (ISPs) connections fails for any reason. Dave add: “We can’t afford for connectivity to go down between the firehouse, the internet and the trucks. Untangle’s WAN Balancer and WAN Failover allow us to balance internet traffic between the ISPs and automatically switch should one fail.”

East Rutherford validates technology investments though an IT steering committee. Open Source Software (OSS) is desirable, but needs to be from dependable and reputable vendors. Price of support and additional commercial offerings is key too. Untangle fitted the bill.

Dave originally installed the Untangle free and open source version. He has subsequently upgraded to the Untangle Super Bundle, which includes the full suite of applications from Untangle. “Their support is good, their forums are active, and they listen to customer feedback.” - Thanks Dave!

Written by Mark Floisand

Facebook is back in the news over its maligned Beacon service, which closed down back in September 2009. This time, it’s around the terms of settlement of a class-action suit brought against the firm by people aggrieved at their personal shopping information being disseminated on Facebook to their fiends by Beacon.

It’s a reminder that as the lines continue to blur between public and private data, and between personal- and company-related social media activity, organizations need to face up to managing social network usage in the workplace. At least logging who’s spending time on what social networks will provide insight into what control mechanisms may or may not be necessary. Try out our eSoft Web Filter free for 14 days to log and manage social media online activity, and track the heavy Facebook users on your network.

Written by Mark Floisand

Untangle is giving away 5 Education Package 6-month subscriptions during February, each worth up to $3,840.

To encourage schools, government departments and non-profits to try out Untangle, we’re inviting you to download Untangle, then fill in an online form to enter into a draw. We will select five lucky institutions to receive the Untangle Education Standard Subscription, free for six months.

To qualify, participants need to download the free Untangle network gateway and install it in their organization. Once installed, the Untangle ID from the Untangle gateway will need to be entered in the online form, along with your contact details. That’s it.

Competition details and entry for at http://www.untangle.com/Schools-Feb-Giveaway

Written by Mark Floisand

“Untangle® gives us everything we need for keeping our staff and students safe, and at a cost about half that of competitors.”
The Portland Public Schools District in Portland, MI, comprises four schools, an adult and alternative education center, and two administrative offices. Serving 2,100 students, the District believes that access to information resources is essential in preparing students to succeed in a global society. It also maintains that investment in technology is a key step towards accessing information, achieving learning outcomes, and providing equity to the students in the area.

The District has a policy of constantly re-assessing what technology options are available, as its systems and software come up for renewal or replacement. David Palme, Director of Technology, said: “School technology budgets are under pressure. However, we aim not only to maintain service levels, but continue to innovate and move forward. Untangle fits that bill.”

David selected Untangle for the completeness of its security offerings, coupled with the ease with which it can be administered. Portland is using Untangle to block spam, prevent access to inappropriate web sites and stop viruses getting on to the network. David explained, “It’s important for teachers in the schools to have the ability to make administrative changes to our Untangle system. Untangle’s interface is straight-forward and easy to grasp for the occasional user but robust and detailed enough for modification to the unique needs of the educational environment.”

Untangle’s policy management and integration with Microsoft® Active Directory® has allowed David to set up and enforce different web policies for staff and students. “Differentiated access is critical for education”, commented David. “Teachers need to be able to access certain web sites that would just prove a needless distraction to students in the classroom.”

Untangle provides David with reports by user that enable him to see what network usage has taken place, aiding network management, policy enforcement and potential risk assessment. David adds: “Untangle is the lowest priced vendor we’ve found. We’re always looking, but there’s been no need to go anywhere else.” He has just renewed his subscription for another year. Thank you David!

Written by Mark Floisand

Every quarter, Commtouch releases their Internet Threat Trends Report. Last quarter’s report shows:

• An average of 312,000 zombies were newly activated each day for the purpose of malicious activity.
• Spam levels averaged 77% of all email traffic throughout the quarter, peaking at 98% in November and bottoming out at 68% at the end of December.
• Sites in the “Computers & Technology” and “Search Engines & Portals” categories topped the list of Web categories manipulated by phishing schemes.
• “Business” continued to be the Web site category most infected with malware for the third quarter in a row.
• Pharmacy spam remained in the top spot with 81% of all spam messages; last quarter, it reigned with 68%.
• Replicas remained in the #2 spot, falling from 19% to 5.4%.
• Brazil continues to produce the most zombies, responsible for 20.4% of global zombie activity.

If this worries you, try our Commtouch spam protection free for 14 days.

Written by Mark Floisand

Given how limited a typical school’s budget is, it’s disheartening to read that school districts have become targets for online fraud. However, this should provide additional impetus for school district IT managers to build a robust case for internet security systems. CIPA already requires them to protect students from online threats. Now they have to defend the school’s coffers from fraudsters, too.

Written by Mark Floisand

The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (WAPA) is a public-power utility whose core purpose is to enhance the economic development and the quality of life for people living in the U.S. Virgin Islands and the surrounding areas. WAPA operates electrical generation and water desalination units on the islands of St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas. Electrical service is provided to St. John, Water Island, and Hassel Island through submarine cables. WAPA’s IT department supports three main locations across the islands. There are approximately 350 staff that have access to the Internet.

The Network Specialist at WAPA, Julius Aubain, was facing a decision on re-newing his subscription for his dedicated web filter appliance. Julius had several issues to contend with: recessionary budget pressures, requiring him to look for savings across his IT budget; escalating subscription costs from his incumbent vendor; and some employees that had found ways to get around the existing web filter using proxies to bypass it. He needed to look for a replacement; one that would be more cost-effective and more robust.

Julius downloaded the free Untangle multi-function firewall from the web, and installed it on generic computer hardware. He was able to set up an Untangle server specifically suited to his organization’s needs. He then initiated trials of Untangle’s premium applications, and began testing Untangle with internet traffic. The system passed with flying colors, and Julius placed his (new) subscription order with Untangle.

“Untangle was very easy to set up and install,” said Julius. “The fact that I can install the software on servers of my choosing, rather than being tied to a dedicated hardware appliance, gives me much more flexibility and control.” Julius added: “We also found Untangle’s pricing very attractive. I’m now able to properly filter our internet traffic in adherence to our web policy, on a smaller annual budget.” Julius has been running Untangle since November 2009. He’s under budget, and his web traffic is under control.

Written by Mark Floisand

Pickaway County in Ohio has the historic distinction of having the longest-serving sheriff in the USA. Sheriff Dwight E. Radcliff has been in office since 1965. Throughout this time, the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office has embraced new technology to keep up-to-date.

Today its staff are protected from online threats both in the office and out on the road. Mobile police units are connected to the headquarters through virtual private networks (VPNs) and their internet traffic is scanned and filtered just as it is at their desks. Untangle provides the VPN connectivity and web filtering all in one box.

The Technology Manager at the Sheriff’s Office, Matthew Parish, has deep experience with network security. He is highly familiar with the vendors of dedicated appliances and open-source projects alike. Matthew liked what he saw in Untangle. ”Untangle has integrated best-of-class web filtering from eSoft and combined it with rich reporting, anti-spyware and a host of other services; it’s a complete offering, and really sets the mark in the industry.” Untangle’s virtual rack metaphor has made it easy for Matthew to set up and enforce multiple different web policies for various departments throughout the office.

Matthew originally installed Untangle’s free open-source package at the Sheriff’s Office back in 2007. However, he subsequently upgraded to the premium offering for its additional features: “Untangle now connects to our Active Directory server, which allows us to monitor, track and log web browsing by user account and sign-on. No other product we looked at can do this.”

Matthew installed the Untangle server in transparent mode, just dropping it in behind his existing firewall. It was up and running, filtering web traffic within five minutes. Matthew praises the ease of administration of the Untangle server, and its cost: “Untangle’s subscription pricing was a fraction of the price of other vendors we considered. Given the budget pressures we’re all under these days, this decision just made great sense. We’ve just renewed for another three years”

Written by Mark Floisand