1. Capturing Barracuda Web Filter Activity in Reports
IT and HR administrators often require detailed information about the Internet usage behavior of RELEASE 2
users in the network to budget computing resources and ensure adherence to corporate policies. In
addition to its powerful Web filtering and malware protection capabilities, the Barracuda Web Filter
NOVEMBER 2009
allows administrators to generate more than 45 different reports on Internet activity. Reports can be
generated on users’ Web browsing activity, by domains and content categories, by time spent online,
or by their bandwidth consumption.
Having a comprehensive, flexible and easy-to-use native reporting engine enables the Barracuda Web
Filter to offer a fully integrated solution. Generating reports is simple. After simply selecting the time
period, report type and format, administrators can view reports immediately. Alternatively, reports can
be scheduled for automatic email delivery or archived to a network share over standard protocols such
as FTP and SMB/CIFS. Additional filters can be applied to generate reports for a specific user/group,
domain or category.
Comprehensive
• Reports on all aspects of monitored online activity.
• Reports can be based on User Activity, Domains, Categories or Action taken.
• Web requests, bandwidth usage, policy violations and Spyware activity presented in tabular and graphical form.
• Applicable to IT Administrators, HR departments, executive management and other compliance functions.
Flexible
• Generate one-time reports or schedule automatic delivery on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.
• Optional filtering by Source (Name, IP or User Group) of traffic or by Destination (Domain, Category).
• Transparent integration with LDAP/AD or other authentication services.
• Email delivery or archival to network shares over FTP or SMB/CIFS.
• HTML, PDF, Text or CSV formats.
• Interactive drill-down by Users, Categories, Domains, Time.
• Automatically generated Content and Application Logs that track online activity in real-time.
• Near real-time exporting of Syslog messages.
• Batch exports of Web traffic log files for reporting in other applications.
Easy-to-Use
• Native reporting engine that does not require separate clients or database management.
• Simple and intuitive Web user interface.
Business Drivers for Reporting
Network administrators are concerned with monitoring and optimizing computing and bandwidth
resources across the organization. The vulnerability of the network to security risks is also a major
concern. An administrator could be interested in monitoring how bandwidth is utilized, daily Internet
usage patterns, infection activity and efficiency of Web filtering systems. On the other hand, human
resources administrators are concerned with regulating Internet activity across the organization to
minimize inappropriate content and loss of productivity. Human resource management is often tasked
with ensuring that users are protected against security risks and inadvertent misuse of the Internet.
Web Activity by Users
A major issue facing organizations today is the increasing level of leisure browsing from within
the workplace. This can lead to loss of productivity or even risk legal action from exposing users to
objectionable content. The latter concern is particularly applicable to educational institutions that are
legally obligated to regulate Internet access to inappropriate sites. Web sites can also host malicious
applications such as spyware or viruses. Even apparently harmless Web sites can be compromised to
host malware exposing organizations to significant security risks.
Also, increased levels of leisure browsing can adversely impact bandwidth resources. With the
popularity of tabbed browsers and streaming content, IT administrators are constantly contending with
lack of bandwidth for mission-critical applications. A granular view into user Internet behavior can help
optimize available network resources and also budget for future growth and scalability.
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2. Barracuda Networks Capturing Barracuda Web Filter Activity in Reports
The Barracuda Web Filter offers several reports to track Internet activity by users. Requests based reports
help track users by the domains requested. These reports can be further filtered to identify users with
the most number of blocked requests or users requesting domains within an objectionable category.
Administrators can also track users and even machines in terms of the bandwidth consumed or by the
amount of time spent online, or in individual browsing sessions. There are also security focused reports
that let you identify users that requested known malware sites.
These reports can help answer questions such as:
• Which users are spending the most time online?
• How much time did an individual user spend online last week and on which Web sites?
• Which users are most responsible for bandwidth overutilization?
Report types include:
Report Type Description
Users by Requests Lists Users in terms of number of Web requests recorded
Users by Bandwidth Lists Users in terms of the bandwidth consumed
Users by Time Spent List of commonly blocked content categories and the number of blocked requests
Users by Session Time Lists Users in terms of individual browsing Session Times
Users by Sessions Lists Users in terms of the number of browsing Sessions
Sessions by User Lists individual session start and end times for users
Clients by Bandwidth Lists machines (IP addresses) in terms of the bandwidth consumed
Users by Spyware Requests Lists Users in terms of requests to known Spyware sites
Source IPs by Requests Lists machines (IP addresses) in terms of the number of Web requests recorded
Destination IPs by Requests Lists Web destinations (IP addresses) in terms of the number of Web requests recorded
User Activity Log Detailed chronological log of Web requests made by users showing URLs, source machines
and user details
Requests by User Simplified version of the User Activity Log
Applications by Requests Lists the Web Applications used in terms of number of requests
Web Activity by Domains/Categories
Another aspect to monitoring Internet usage is determining Web domain or categories that are requested
most often, browsed for the longest time, subject to policy violations or consume the most bandwidth.
While designing network usage policy, administrators have to often strike a balance between regulating
access while not being overly restrictive. To do this, it is useful to understand which domains or categories
are most popular among the users and then design policy to provide an appropriate level of access.
For example, a network administrator could estimate that bandwidth usage is at a peak during certain
hours and apply a restrictive policy then but allow access to some popular leisure sites, like personal
email, during off-peak hours.
Domains/Category based reports can be filtered for specific users of groups and they help address
questions such as:
• What are the most popular domains or categories among users?
• How much time are my users spending on non-business related activity?
• How much time did an individual user spend last week on social networking sites?
• How much bandwidth is required for the coming year to support the corporate network?
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3. Barracuda Networks Capturing Barracuda Web Filter Activity in Reports
The following Barracuda Web Filter reports allow administrators to identify the most popular online
content within their users:
Report Type Description
Domains by Requests List of domains in terms of number of Web requests recorded
Domains by Bandwidth List of domains in terms of bandwidth consumed
Domains by Session Time List of domains that incurred the longest browsing sessions
Domains by Time Spent List of domains that were browsed for the longest total time
Domains by Sessions List of domains in terms of the number of browsing sessions
Domains by Users List of domains in terms of the users requesting them
Sessions by Domain List of domains with individual session start and end times
Categories by Requests List of categories in terms of number of Web requests recorded
Categories by Bandwidth List of categories in terms of Bandwidth utilized
Categories by Session Time List of categories that involved the longest browsing sessions
Categories by Time Spent List of categories that were browsed for the longest time
Categories by Sessions List of categories in terms of the number of browsing sessions
Categories by Users List of categories in terms of the users requesting them
Sessions by Categories List of categories with individual session start and end times
Trends
In addition to detailed Web browsing activity, you can also view trends over time. Trends include
bandwidth usage, aggregate number of Web requests and policies. You can also monitor the volume
of traffic processed by the Barracuda Web Filter using the TCP Connections report to estimate if the
Barracuda Web Filter is operating within recommended performance limits.
Trend reports are useful to characterize Internet usage across time or budget network resources. For
example, an IT administrator can understand when bandwidth utilization peaks and balance traffic
accordingly across multiple connections, data-paths or locations.
Report Type Description
Bandwidth by Date Bandwidth Usage for each hour in the time frame
Bandwidth by Time of Day Combined Bandwidth Usage by time of day across the time frame
Requests by Date Number of requests for each hour in the time frame
Requests by Time of Day Combined number of requests by time of day across the time frame
TCP Connections Usage Total number of Active TCP Connections for each hour in the time frame
Browse Time by Date Combined total time spent online by users for each hour in the time frame
Actions by Date Web requests broken down by the types of Actions (Allowed, Blocked, Warned, Monitor) for
each hour in the time frame
Actions by Time of Day Web requests broken down by the types of Actions (Allowed, Blocked, Warned, Monitor) for
each hour in the time frame
Infection Activity
A major concern for Network Administrators is network security and protection from Web-based
malware attacks. The Barracuda Web Filter prevents harmful downloads from the Internet as well as
detects spyware activity from infected client machines. Spyware Infection Activity reports detail any
detected spyware infections on client computers as well as harmful downloads that were prevented by
the Barracuda Web Filter. Using these reports, Network Administrators can monitor the health of their
network, detect vulnerabilities early, and design preventive and corrective measures.
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4. Barracuda Networks Capturing Barracuda Web Filter Activity in Reports
These reports help answer questions such as:
• Are any of my machines infected with spyware applications?
• Are my users accessing too many spyware sites?
The available reports are:
Report Type Description
Infected Clients IP addresses of machines from which requests were made to known Malware sites
Infections A list of infections seen during the time frame
Spyware Sites A list of known Spyware domains requested
Summary Reports
To summarize information provided in the detailed reports, the Barracuda Web Filter provides
aggregated views of user and domain activity. The following report types provide summary statistics
that are typically useful to obtain a snap-shot of user Internet activity:
Report Type Description
User Activity Lists the users as per the number of requests allowed or blocked
Bandwidth use by Category Total Bandwidth used by each category
Time Spent by Category Total time spent on each category
Total Bandwidth Total bandwidth consumed
Total Web Requests Total number of Web Requests
Total Time Spent Total Web browsing time
Activity Summary Aggregate Activity Summary of users showing Domains by Requests, number of requests by
date, Bandwidth by date, and domains visited most often
“Domains by Time Spent” report for a specific LDAP user showing the sites visited by a specific user in the order of total time spent on each site.
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5. Barracuda Networks Capturing Barracuda Web Filter Activity in Reports
“Requests by User” report for all users showing the sites visited in chronological order.
For questions about the Barracuda Web Filter, please visit http://www.barracuda.com/webfilter or call Barracuda
Networks for a free 30-day evaluation at 1-888-ANTI-SPAM or +1 408-342-5400. For more information on our
other security and productivity solutions, please visit http://www.barracuda.com/products.
About Barracuda Networks Inc.
Barracuda Networks Inc. combines premise-based gateways and software, cloud services, and
sophisticated remote support to deliver comprehensive security, networking and storage solutions.
The company’s expansive product portfolio includes offerings for protection against email, Web and IM
threats as well as products that improve application delivery and network access, message archiving,
backup and data protection.
Coca-Cola, FedEx, Harvard University, IBM, L’Oreal, and Europcar are among the more than 100,000
organizations protecting their IT infrastructures with Barracuda Networks’ range of affordable, easy-to-
deploy and manage solutions. Barracuda Networks is privately held with its International headquarters
in Campbell, Calif. For more information, please visit www.barracudanetworks.com.
Barracuda Networks
3175 S. Winchester Boulevard
Campbell, CA 95008
United States
+1 408.342.5400
www.barracuda.com
info@barracuda.com
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