96% of teenagers use social networking sites, spending over 17 hours online per week (kidslivesafe.com). This creates enormous opportunities for access to explicit materials, miss-use of social media and chat rooms, and vulnerability to online predators targeting these social networking sites. These explicit materials are much more prevalent than many educators, administrators, and even parents believe, with approximately 90% of children between 8 and 16 years old having seen or been exposed to online pornography (kidslivesafe.com).

Netsentron’s quadruple-level intelligent content filter utilizes keyword and content analysis in addition to traditional black- and grey-lists to ensure that students are protected from the mass of inappropriate website content that exists.

NetSentron is a true content filter that quadruple filters website content to determine whether it is safe for your students to view. NetSentron filters web content using the following method.

A student enters a URL into their browser, which automatically sends a request to NetSentron. First, the header is check for: user name, malformed URL, source IP, URL, and POST status. Next, the appropriate filters are checked, including: Banned User, Banned Address, Banned URL, Exception User, Exception IP Address, Exception URL, and Malformed URL. If all of these test are passed, NetSentron will fetch the file the student is attempting to access from the Internet.

A typical web filter would finish the filtering process here, but Netsentron goes one step further: analyzing the actual content of the websites in addition to the qualifications and classifications of the website’s listing. NetSentron continues filtering the content, similar to a few advanced web filters, next checking the MIME-type and file extensions. If the file is an allowed MIME-type or extension, the file is then checked to see if the page has an ICRA rating. If the page passes the ICRA ratings, then the phrases, words, and images in the page are checked against the banned phrase list, exception phrase list, and weighted phrase lists. Every check is assigned a score based on how closely it meets the standards of the relevant list, and a running total is tabulated for the page. The total is then checked against the threshold set by the administrator, and if it falls within the allowable boundaries, the website that the student was attempting to access will be displayed.

The final process, where NetSentron “reads” and analyzes the content of the web page is where it truly differentiates from typical web filters.

Unlike simpler filters which may easily be evaded by tech-savvy students, the NetSentron True Content Filter quadruple filters website content, rather than just the URL itself, to determine whether it is safe for viewing.

First, a content filter checks for websites that are outwright bad by checking their URL against a provided database. Next, the site is check for dangerous file types, ICRA rating  (non-profit Family Online Safety Institutes Internet Content Rating Association), and then finally, the content is checked for banned or potentially explicit words, phrases, and images. The content is given a score based how explicit it is considered by the rating system, and websites whose content reaches a set threshold will be blocked.

Netsentron uses this process to carefully determine if sites accessed by your students should be blocked. Websites will only be displayed after they have successful passed all four filtering stages.

NetSentron is situated between your network and the uncertainties of the Internet. Your data is protected and Web content is filtered, keeping your users safe, all by the same box. Unlike many competing products, Netsentron is a single-point network management solution…not a costly, modular add-on scheme.

A firewall product is often treated like a commodity – as if all firewalls had the exact same features and capabilities. Yet a firewall is the most important piece of equipment protecting an entire network, and many criteria differ depending on the model and supplier. Certain features are included on some firewalls, and not others. Many suppliers try to get your attention with what initially appears to be a very low purchase investment; however, when you upgrade to get all the features you want, the total price becomes much higher.