Has your network encountered Ultrasurfers? They’re becoming a big problem for network administrators who want to restrict access to websites that contain inappropriate or recreational content.
Developed by Chinese dissidents, Ultrasurf is a program that allows Internet users to circumvent some content filters. Although our system is secure, others are letting ‘surfers’ through to view websites that bog down bandwidth or contain explicit content on networks belonging to businesses, schools and public libraries.
Unfortunately, Ultrasurf has become a serious problem for network administrators. It can be downloaded onto a storage device and transported inconspicuously to work or school to surf the web at will.
Want to know the scope of the problem? Last year, more than 200 students at a high school in Pennsylvania had to be suspended for using Ultrasurf to violate the school technology-use policies. Most of the students were using the program for innocuous purposes such as visiting Facebook and watching videos on YouTube. However, the potential exists for visiting inappropriate sites as well.
So where did Ultrasurf come from? As mentioned above, Chinese political dissidents originally created the program to get around government Internet restrictions. It works by setting up fake host sites to mask the real address of the actual sites visited.
Although bypassing Internet filters can be a useful tool for people in some countries, it now is being used in the United States by students, employees and others who want to surf networks without restrictions on recreational or inappropriate traffic.
So how to reduce the problem? Network administrators have to get savvy about Ultrasurf. According to a study done by Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Ultrasurf has been found to be the “best-performing” of all tested circumvention tools.
But even the “best” programs can be blocked. Cymphonix is capable of restricting use of programs that bypass network filters. For more information on how to ride out the Ultrasurf wave, click here.