PixAlert Offers Real Time Protection in The Workplace
Posted by Mr magoo on 11 January 2005 - 13:30 · 21 comments & 1695 views
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Mr magooContact: via forum PM
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#1 Posted by WinMacLin on 11 Jan 2005 - 13:34
- Well that sucks.
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#2 Posted by Ficman on 11 Jan 2005 - 13:42
- Be great if they offered something in the way of Demo Software... I could not find anything on their site...
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(1 reply)
#3 Posted by Eversurf on 11 Jan 2005 - 13:46
- Did you find out how much it was per seat?
The thing is that we block everything at the firewall, someone has to be really motivated and wanting to get busted to bring in a cd, or floppy to work with inapropriate content -
#3.1 Posted by Yakkob on 11 Jan 2005 - 15:54
- Don't forget Group Policy. Lock all the usb's, cd's, and floppies down, very limited desktop etc.
If people secured their environments better, then people wouldn't be able to get themselves into trouble. remember it's very easy to get into trouble by accident on the iternet.
the onus is on the IT Dept, and safeguards they put in place.
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(1 reply)
#4 Posted by betasp on 11 Jan 2005 - 13:50
- Wonder how they would feel about finding my resume on my computer...
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(2 replies)
#5 Posted by yakumo on 11 Jan 2005 - 15:15
- great, so when your girlfriend sends you some digi pictures to your gmail account to cheer you up at lunchtime when your allowed to do what you want with your work PC/net line facilities as long as it's legal, the whole IT team get allerted straight away to come snoop your box (or hers as the case may be
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#6 Posted by toadeater on 11 Jan 2005 - 15:26
- Well that's it, I'm going to quit my job.
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#7 Posted by killa101 on 11 Jan 2005 - 15:27
QUOTE Be great if they offered something in the way of Demo Software
QUOTE Did you find out how much it was per seat?
go to the contacts page and fill out the contact info. they will contact you pretty quickly with info and a trial if you want one
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(1 reply)
#8 Posted by olaf on 11 Jan 2005 - 15:33
- Lame. Employers should cool down.
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#8.1 Posted by shao on 12 Jan 2005 - 00:13
- actually. employers have to be careful. those that don't set up sufficient acceptable use policies, and measures to check / prevent employees going against the aup can actually find themselves in trouble if ever action needs to be taken against users that have been naughty little boys. afterall an employee isn't getting paid to look at porn.
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#9 Posted by Surr3al on 11 Jan 2005 - 15:36
- Yay for privacy!
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#10 Posted by vancity001 on 11 Jan 2005 - 16:54
- haha damn i guess my p0rn.. um i mean LUNCH.. breaks wont be as fun anymore
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#11 Posted by Atmos42 on 11 Jan 2005 - 17:47
- I wonder if it can tell the difference between real porn and say, a CNN report on the breakup of a child porn ring. It would have to have a low rate of false positives to make it trust worthy.
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(3 replies)
#12 Posted by Cyranthus on 11 Jan 2005 - 19:51
- ive always wondered how a piece of software like this detects a pornographic picture or video from a normal picture or video... ?
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#12.1 Posted by hosebeast on 12 Jan 2005 - 01:44
- I don't know about this particular product but I have seen how similar tools are implemented. Basically, there are mathematical algorithms which can essentially turn an entire photograph (or sampled frames from a video) into a small set of integers which provide an overall indication of color usage and distribution. These algorithms are somewhat abstract so they are not as easy to explain as something like a Shell Sort, but they can identify areas of skin tones which have a high probability of being exposed breasts and/or genitalia. It's not merely the presence of skin tone colors; the algorithms take into account the relative size/shape/positioning of skin tone areas within the image, as well as the color regions which border the skin tone areas and how hard the color transitions between regions are. The size/resolution of an image doesn't matter; all images are boiled down to a small hash which is the same size for all images. This allows for real-time filtering/detection.
By calculating these hashes for large samples of porn, as well as large samples of legit images, it's possible to find combinations and ranges which statistically indicate that an image is likely to be porn. -
#12.2 Posted by Gobelet on 12 Jan 2005 - 13:54
- I didn't know maths could be used to find porn Now someone implements it and we'll have the best web porn crawler out there!
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#13 Posted by Ph8l on 11 Jan 2005 - 23:09
- They should market this to the education departments.
PixAlert have developed software that does real time multi-source analysis to detect illegal / in-appropriate content on employees computers. The software not only scans for on-line content (like pornographic images), but also scans other data mediums / entry points in organisations. The software provides IT managers with a detailed audit chain allowing follow up on users viewing content of a dubious nature. It performs real-time analysis of content and compares it against a pre-set list of computer guidelines. When these are breached, a thumbnail of the content and detailed information is sent to a company's human resources department for examination.
In 2004, it emerged that an analysis of one of the UK government's departments had found over 18,000 illegal images, and 2 million pieces of in-appropriate content. PixAlert hopes to make it easier for IT managers to crack down on this type of activity.
“The rapid proliferation of Inappropriate and illegal material on PCs and networks is a growing problem for organisations as legislation and compliance becomes more onerous,” says Dave McLoughlin, a PixAlert director. “While gateway products go some way to prevent web and email images, PixAlert is the only solution currently available that protects organisations from the increasing range of plug-in digital devices that can at as the source of unwanted images.”
PixAlert, and software like it, highlight a growing trend in businesses hooked up to the web - the "big-brother" office. Privacy advocates expressed concern at the use of surveillance software in the work place, and urged corporate users to respect an individuals right to privacy.
Microsoft told us that the company is "aware of new public reports of an exploit that takes advantage of two previously reported vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer. Microsoft is currently working on an update to address these vulnerabilities. Customers who have followed our Safe Browsing guidance (http://www.microsoft.com/security/incident...t/settings.mspx) and have set their Internet Security zone settings to high are not impacted by this vulnerability. Enterprise administrators who have restricted access to the "startup" folder on their network client computers are at a reduced risk from this vulnerability. We continue to encourage customers to review and install Windows XP SP2 by turning on Automatic Update. Automatic Update is simple to turn on in Windows XP: Visit www.microsoft.com/protect.
In addition, customers should follow our Protect Your PC guidance of enabling a firewall, getting software updates and installing anti-virus software. Customers can learn more about these steps at www.microsoft.com/protect. Customers who believe they may have been affected can contact Product Support Services. You can contact Product Support Services in North America for help with security update issues or viruses at no charge using the PC Safety line (1866-PCSAFETY) and customers outside of North America can locate the number for no-charge virus support by visiting www.support.microsoft.com/security."
When asked about the apparent lack of speed with regard to the patch, Microsoft told us "that Security response requires a balance between time and testing, thus Microsoft will only release an update - when warranted - that is as well engineered and as thoroughly tested as possible - whether that is a day, week, month or longer. In security response, an incomplete security update can be worse than none at all if it only serves to alert malicious hackers to a new issue."