How do I monitor websites accessed through my small office network?

S

Snoekie

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Hi,

My small company employs several uni interns and apart from being absolutely useless they also abuse any resource available..in this instance my ADSL 5Gig cap, which is primarily used for emails and occasional windows updates. there is strict company rule about downloading and movement of information off the computers but this month alone I have already purchased 7gigs, we have disabled their access to internet on the network, by network I mean LAN switches runnin off a Mega 100 telkom modem, but it has proved quite simple to bypass.. The lil'bastards are quite ingenious bout hiding folders and tuckin everything away so there is rarely blatant evidence..so my only option is to acquire specific list of websites accessed, this would better aid my move to disciplinary...but the geniuses at telkom say its impossible to see what websites are being accessed from their side so cannot help me. is there a simple program I can install to monitor websites accessed?

Thanks,
S
 
They always find a way. I know when a friend of mine had that problem, the simple solution we came up with was to modify the hosts file

*facebook.com 127.0.0.1
*torrents.com 127.0.0.1

etc

Basically, we killed the dns resolution for half the sites the guy was visiting. Of course, that was a Mac setup but I am sure 'doze has the same ability.

Also try net nanny or whatever its called.

Lastly, I am sure that telkom modem can determine which MAC IDs can access the WAN...
 
No, there is not.

You will need to install a dedicated firewall, such as Smoothwall.

Smoothwall is Open Source and Free Software which means you don't have to pay a Rand or two.

A basic Smoothwall will be able to log sites visited, and the IP of the PC used to access said sites.

In order to block sites, you can use either URL Filter or Dansguardian to block these sites at firewall level instead of at PC level. This means that it is virtually impossible for them to bypass the block imposed.

Also, you can use Full Firewall Control to block PC's by their MAC addresses instead of their IP's.

However, you will need an unused PC with two network cards for Smoothwall - but a plain, basic 266MHz P2 with 128Mb RAM and 4Gb HDD will be more than enough.

Regards

Libs
 
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GreGorGy said:
They always find a way. I know when a friend of mine had that problem, the simple solution we came up with was to modify the hosts file

*facebook.com 127.0.0.1
*torrents.com 127.0.0.1

etc

Basically, we killed the dns resolution for half the sites the guy was visiting. Of course, that was a Mac setup but I am sure 'doze has the same ability.

Also try net nanny or whatever its called.

Lastly, I am sure that telkom modem can determine which MAC IDs can access the WAN...
Click to expand...

It's a simple solution, but so easy to bypass unfortunately (blocking them via the hosts file). Unfortunately, this will also be the first place I will look when I am unable to access certain websites.

Some routers have the ability to block by MAC ID's as well - this is a good try, but if they can spoof their MAC addresses then this won't be of any help.

Most routers have basic or no logging facilities.
 
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I think OpenDNS also has site blocking capability, and stats on visited sites.
 
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You can also setup a proxy like squid. it will log visits, you can block sites or users etc. But it might be better to use smoothwall like The_Librarian said. All depends on your network setup.
 
One of these "how do I monitor/control my bandwidth" threads needs to be stickyed. Just yesterday OMG!!! was asking the exact same thing here
 
Drunkard #1 said:
One of these "how do I monitor/control my bandwidth" threads needs to be stickyed. Just yesterday OMG!!! was asking the exact same thing here
Click to expand...

I apologise for posting the same question again, it's just tricky to understand what it is your searching for you do not know the solution. :confused:
 
Wow...some epic legal issues come to mind from this thread. Those employees, interns can sue your @ss from here to timbucktoo if you don't know what you're doing. Careful.
 
die_skim said:
Wow...some epic legal issues come to mind from this thread. Those employees, interns can sue your @ss from here to timbucktoo if you don't know what you're doing. Careful.
Click to expand...
Depends on company policy. If they signed it, they're bound to it.
 
just bridge the router and tell them that they have to buy their own gigs and run pppoe whenever they feel the need to connect.
 
no opportunity for a lawsuit, if it is clearly explained that internet access is prohibited as it falls out of their scope of work and resources required then they should have no reason to be on and secondly all data created on work computers remain the property of the company and therefore the company is permitted to monitor all activity on its property. To find space for a lawsuit would indicate their blatant breach of company policy.
 
What about creating a separate subnet for them which doesn't have access to your router? DCHP can then assign them their IP, gateway etc.
use group policy to remove their ability to lock their IP and mail setup.
 
Setup a dedicated linux router/firewall/proxy/cache box between the modem & the lan. Proxy will require a username & password to gain access to the internet, firewall can log all visited sites and downloads.
 
die_skim said:
Wow...some epic legal issues come to mind from this thread. Those employees, interns can sue your @ss from here to timbucktoo if you don't know what you're doing. Careful.
Click to expand...

They can't do a thing.

It is the company's resources they are abusing.

They might have a case IF the company they work for start to snoop in their personal gmail accounts (which are not work related, or belong to the company).

Other than that, they can get fired for abusing company property.
 
without punting anything specific as i am affiliated with the company, expect a low latency, high throughput, extremely flexible Cloud based Security as a service solution that is also fairly low cost ...
It will meet the requirements you mentioned ...
 
MarvMart said:
without punting anything specific as i am affiliated with the company, expect a low latency, high throughput, extremely flexible Cloud based Security as a service solution that is also fairly low cost ...
It will meet the requirements you mentioned ...
Click to expand...

:confused:
 
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