Controlling Access to the Internet
February 1, 2001

This month, SOHOware is introducing a new advanced router product for Broadband Internet service in the home and small office.

BroadGuardTM Secure Cable/DSL Router, NBG800.

BroadGuard offers enhanced access control features along with high performance networking capabilities in a single device that is easy to use and easy to configure.

Today's business environment recognizes the growing costs associated with employee abuse of Internet access privileges. Parents, too, want to regulate Internet access to allow their kids to experience the best the Internet has to offer while protecting them from inappropriate content. BroadGuard is designed with a variety of filtering options to give business managers and parents alike optimum flexibility to customize each user's access to the Internet.

Within BroadGuard's browser-based interface are selection options for three types of access control that can be individually tailored for each computer on a network. The business manager or parent can have administrative control over these features with rights to the browser interface that are password protected. These features can be adjusted at any time, depending on who is using a given computer and what he or she needs from the Internet.

BroadGuard offers three types of access control:

URL Address - Each web site has a unique URL address, (i.e., www.sohoware.com), which can be entered into a list field. Any web site that is contained on the list is automatically blocked from access. The list may be tailored individually for each computer.

 

• Key Word - More flexible than a specific URL address is a Key Word entry made on the list field. Web sites on the Internet that include the key word anywhere in their URL address line will be automatically blocked from access. Thus, the range of web sites that can be blocked is wider and more comprehensive.

   

• Applications - Certain applications on the Internet have common command protocols to which filtering options may be applied. BroadGuard includes four specific application filters that can be selected individually or in any combination. They include:

   

  E-mail - prevents receiving email through typical email client programs.

   

  File downloading - blocks Web-based programs, patch upgrades or other FTP web site files from being downloaded.

   

  News Forum - blocks newsgroup sites that offer topic message threads.

   

  Bulletin Boards - blocks any Telnet session used for messaging.

  

  BroadGuard access control features offer a variety of advantages:

   

• Improved Productivity - The less time people spend on inappropriate Web sites, the more work will actually get done.

   

• Network Integrity - BroadGuard offers simple, yet flexible options to set standards for preventing the loading of potentially incompatible software programs and virus laden e-mail, both of which can negatively affect the integrity of your company's data. Whether for a business manager or parent, BroadGuard set up is "do-it-yourself" - no IT expertise is required.

   

• Reserving Bandwidth - When multiple users share a cable or DSL connection and access the Internet simultaneously, particularly when they are sending or receiving data -intensive files, the performance of all the computers on the network can be adversely affected. An important benefit of BroadGuard's access control features is the ability to reserve bandwidth to a specified computer by limiting file sending and receiving from the other computers on the network.

  Nothing is like BroadGuard.

  The access control features provided by the BroadGuardTM Secure Cable/DSL Router are the most comprehensive available to the consumer today. The BroadGuard router is available at leading computer retailers including Best Buy, Fry's, MicroCenter and The Wiz, and can also be purchased from this Web site.

  For more in depth information about issues raised in this article, click on the following links:

  Firewall Security Issues

  BroadGuard product information