White list internet browsing

[loughe-p40]

Does anyone know how to establish a "white list" for browsing the internet from a ward clerk's internet-enabled computer?

Our Stake President does not want to give internet access to wards until their browsers are white listed. We tried to do this within IE, but on Destop 5.5 the option for doing this has been disabled. We do not know why it is disabled, but it is. It is not enough that the church is filtering content, our Stake President has decided that all ward computers must be locally white listed before they can receive internet access.

If you know how to create and utilize a local white list for internet browsing under Desktop 5.5, our stake will benefit from the advice you share.

Thank you!

[rmrichesjr]

One solution that would be very feasible technologically would be to use a small low-cost machine with two NICs (or software proxy controls on the user computers) to run an HTTP proxy with a white-list policy. Several years ago, a friend of mine said he was looking into doing that for his home computers. If I understood him correctly, there are sites explaining how to do it using Linux and squid as the proxy. Using a lean Linux installation, even an older second-hand machine or an embedded appliance-type machine should suffice.

[Mikerowaved]

Another possibility is looking into your router's menu. Depending on the brand of the router, you can sometimes force a whitelist to be used for all or selected machines.

[russellhltn]

Another possibility is looking into your router's menu. Depending on the brand of the router, you can sometimes force a whitelist to be used for all or selected machines.

Except the router is under Church Admin control. It may be worth a talk to Global Connect to see if they can do something. Otherwise I think you're looking at buying a router to stick between the admin computers and the rest of the network.

[jhvdh84]

You might also try www.OpenDNS.com. I've only recently found it, so I'm just figuring it out, but it looks like it can do whitelisting, is free, and would work for your situation without having to buy hardware.

[russellhltn]

You might also try www.OpenDNS.com. I've only recently found it, so I'm just figuring it out, but it looks like it can do whitelisting,

From a quick look, it appears it's whitelisting is to get around it's own blacklist. I think what's wanted here is to ONLY allow whitelisted sites and block all others.

[techgy]

I believe your best solution would be the software proxy.
We use it on our family history centers in our stake.
One machine is the "server" on a peer-to-peer network and it runs the proxy software.
All the other machines have their browsers configured to access the proxy. We can block/enable access to any web site. We use it to block unwanted sites and to prohibit the use of Email by blocking any web site with the word "*email*" in it. It's very effective.

techgy

[russellhltn]

One machine is the "server" on a peer-to-peer network and it runs the proxy software. All the other machines have their browsers configured to access the proxy.

What do you do about the FamilySearch portal that requires you to point your proxy to a church server?

[pete_arnett-p40]

All internet connects inside a church building must have a Cisco Pix installed and all equipment must be connected behind the Cisco Pix

The Cisco Pix has a firewall, network settings that use headquarters proxy servers and filtering software

Suggest that you contact headquarters about how to obtain the equipment

"The Cisco PIX 501 is a compact, ready-to-use security appliance that delivers enterprise-class security for small offices and enterprise teleworker environments."

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/ ... index.html

[russellhltn]

In addition to what Pete said, the FHC computers need proxy settings for the FHC FamilySearch portal to work.

For details, go to http://www.fhc.familysearch.org/ and expand the help section.