K-12 Web Filtering Reports for Suspicious Activity

July 29, 2015

K-12 web filtering reports have evolved

When you’re checking out a new content filtering solution, its marketing materials will probably boast about the filter’s advanced reporting. But the truth is the reporting capabilities of web filter solutions — especially those built for enterprise rather than schools — vary wildly. And if your IT department is managing a network of hundreds or thousands of devices, you can’t afford to spend precious office hours monitoring daily web activity.

You need to keep your students and network safe. We do that by blocking inappropriate content based on your own policies and our proprietary database — and also by providing real-time information so you can proactively identify and address critical issues.

If you’re evaluating your options for web filtering, make sure the solution you choose is equipped to give you quick, actionable information on these four things.

Whose safety may be at risk
Certain search terms may be a warning sign that your students are the victims — or perpetrators — of violence. Not only does your web filter need to be able to report on those terms, it needs to be powerful enough to decrypt searches over SSL sites in the first place. Lightspeed constantly updates Web Filter’s database of suspicious search terms to help IT zero in on students implicated in physical and sexual violence, bullying, gang activity, radical group activity, and more. Not only that, our Web Filter is equipped with a Trusted Man in the Middle (TMITM) proxy, currently the only way to decrypt SSL traffic.
Who’s searching for explicit sites, images or videos
IT is powerless if it can’t see which students are trying to access explicit or adult content, whether or not those students actually click on those harmful links or videos. Again, this is where SSL decryption (not simply decoding) is absolutely essential. If IT can’t report on searches over encrypted networks, then they will be blind to activity on some of the Web’s most popular sites (e.g., Google and Yahoo).
Who’s trying to get around your filter
Inevitably, some of your students will attempt to use proxies and other means to circumvent your filter and access blocked content. You need to know which users are making these attempts so you can correct this misuse immediately. Lightspeed’s Web Filter makes it easy to pull reports on searches for proxies or suspicious terms that indicate a user is researching ways to bypass the filter.
Who’s trying to cheat
Even the most vigilant teachers have difficulty catching students who are using the Internet to cheat — especially when they’re dealing with 30 or more students at a time. Our database includes a variety of suspicious search terms specifically to identify students attempting to cheat on tests or homework.

In addition to the powerful reporting, Lightspeed Systems Web Filter:

Lets you customize the suspicious search terms
Has the power to set lockouts (to lock users from the Web) after a threshold of violation attempts is hit
Provides real-time alerts on users trying to break policies so you can act quickly
Has a dynamic database based on school-specific categories
Gives you the ability to create custom reports on any detail you are interested in, as well as save and automatically send them

Learn more about Lightspeed K-12 Web Filtering Reports and its powerful reporting here.