Companies Combine URL Filter, Proxy Blocking

Network security vendor DeepNines Technologies is combining one of its products with URL filtering technology from SurfControl to create an intelligent filter to help school districts prevent students from using Web proxies to view unauthorized Web sites.

The new tool, named iTrust, is aimed primarily at school districts because of the provisions of the CIPA (Children's Internet Protection Act).

CIPA requires districts take measures to prevent pornographic content and other material deemed inappropriate from being accessed on school computers. It combines DeepNines' Security Edge Platform, which has helped hundreds of K-12 districts across the country detect and eliminate all types of Web proxies, with SurfControl's URL filtering technology.

The product has the intuition to block access to both known and unknown malicious online content and web proxies, Officials at Dallas-based DeepNines said.

Despite the presence of URL filters, school administrators have found students use Web proxies to make an indirect connection to the Internet through an outside proxy server.