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MAB Installs Bloxx Web Filtering to gain Better Control over Staff Internet Use During Working Hours

Company Background

Based in London, Milton Keynes and Watford, Matthew Arnold & Baldwin (MAB) is regarded as one of the leading regional commercial law firms in the South East. The company prides itself on giving clients clear, practical advice and a different perspective on the law and legal issues.

MAB has a strong reputation for acting on behalf of banks and financial institutions, for property work, for IT and e-commerce and IP, and for a full range of corporate finance and commercial work.

The Challenge

MAB did not have a web filtering solution in place but wanted to have better control over Internet usage in the company but had no means to do this easily or effectively.

“We had concerns that some of our staff might be using the Internet for excessive personal use during business hours,” says MAB’s Assistant IT Manager, Sanjay Arora. “However, we wanted a solution that would enable us to monitor usage without being too officious.”

Another key objective was to further secure the company network and client PCs.

“The challenge of protecting users from the high amount of malware infiltrating networks and the problem of users receiving phishing emails and consequently accessing phishing websites had greatly increased and we wanted to find a solution that could help provide additional protection against these persistent Internet threats.”

The Solution

After discovering and investigating the Bloxx web filtering appliance, MAB felt Bloxx could satisfy its needs and more, and purchased a TVT-250 to monitor its 240 users over three different sites.

Bloxx uses a multi-layered approach to web filtering to enforce internet policies; if a user requests a web page that isn’t in its optimised URL database, the page is instantly passed to Bloxx’s patented Tru-View Technology. Tru-View Tecchnology then analyzes, categorises and blocks or allows access to the web page, depending on the user’s access policy.

Bloxx provides additional protection against viruses, spyware and phishing sites as well as blocking IM and P2P applications and file downloads.

The Results

Since installing the Bloxx internet filter, MAB has been able to control and monitor internet use much more effectively to ensure staff are productive and not accessing web sites they shouldn’t be whilst at work.

“Everyday, at 2 hour intervals an automatic email alert of ‘Blocked Categories Visited’ is sent to me, which lets me keep an eye on users’ web access. We use it primarily for checking monitoring how much time people spend using Webmail during working hours but also for checking access to social networking sites and adult content websites.”

“A key benefit of our Bloxx appliance is its reporting capability; the ability to monitor users unobtrusively by analysing the automatic reports and consequently restricting websites and adjusting our Acceptable Use Policy, is so easy. It’s now quick and easy to create reports whenever Team Leaders or HR requests them. The Bloxx web filter lets us quickly identify possible internet abuse throughout the firm and act upon it,” states Arora.

“Another major benefit is the Bloxx malware blocking. Previously, we had problems with spyware and users inadvertently being directed to phishing websites, but now Bloxx prevents this malware infiltrating our network and stops users accessing phishing websites at the point of request.”

“Bloxx has provided extra protection to our desktop PCs and dramatically reduced the number of helpdesk calls complaining about slow PC performance due to spyware. We have saved money already over other devices that are available on the market today; the helpdesk savings on wasted man hours cleaning PCs of spyware alone has been significant,” says Arora.

“We have achieved all our objectives and more from installing the Bloxx internet filtering appliance on our network and it has made this part of my job a lot easier,” concludes Arora.