About Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy
Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy is a software application that filters the user's internet access. Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy was designed especially for networks to block access to web pages or download various file types. Traffic can be filtered using a keyword, a group of letters within the body of a page or file extensions. This solution helps companies protect the IT infrastructure from malicious application, preserve bandwidth and increase employee productivity. Another feature of Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy is the traffic audit of the entire network.
1.The proxy accepts a request from a Web browser which has been configured to submit its Internet to that proxy.
2. The proxy checks to determine whether the request is coming from an appropriate user by checking its IP against a list of accepted IP's.
3. Upon this check the proxy either rejects the request or passes it on to the desired destination, usually a protected Web resource .
4. When the proxy replies to the request, it checks if the web page to be displayed meets the requirements of the filter defined….
5. If the page is allowed, it will be displayed to the user else the user will receive an error page containing information regarding the action that was taken.
Windows NT, XP , 2000, 2003, Vista
256 MB RAM
4 MB on Hard Disk for application files
50MB additional storage space for log files.
Cyclope Internet Filtering
Proxy Installation
Please Run the setup file.
In the setup please choose the installation folder where you want the program to be installed (the default folder is "Program files\Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy"
After install you have to configure Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy. This is possible by running the Configuration wizard that will open as soon as the installation wizard is finished.
Run Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy IP Address Wizard. This wizard will star automatically before finishing the installation wizard.
Select the IP Address
Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy is a proxy server with advanced filtering features. You have to select one of the IP addresses and type a port number on which the Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy will listen for incoming client connections.
In the IP addresses dropdown you will see all the IP addresses that your machine currently is using: the LAN IP address (which is usually 192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x), the default IP address (127.0.0.1) and if the case, an external IP address (like 68.x.x.x or 216.x.x.x).
If you select the LAN IP address (which is usually 192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x) the traffic from all your LAN machines can be filtered. We recommend you to use this IP address.
If you select the default IP address (127.0.0.1) only the traffic from your machine will be filtered. This is recommended when you test the product on a single machine.
Configuring the Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy to listen to an external IP address (68.x.x.x or 216.x.x.x) is highly NOT RECOMMENDED.
Browser Configuration
This section allows you to configure the browsers installed on your machine to use the Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy in order to filter the content and access the configuration pages.
Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy has a web Interface that allows you to configure the filtering rules and to show you detailed statistics. This web interface is accessible only by using Internet Explorer (that’s why this option is by default checked) by typing http://web.filter in your address bar.
The configuration pages will be automatically loaded at the end of installation process.
The other browsers can be configured to use Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy in order to filter and track the web traffic generated while using them.
Client Configuration
in order to control and filter the Internet traffic made by work stations, you must configure the installed browsers to use a proxy server running on the chosen LAN IP, and chosen port.
For manually configuring your browser so that the application performs successfully please follow the paths below.
After the wizard is completed, Cyclope internet Filtering Proxy web interface will open in a new browser.
!!!! in case you receive a message with : the page cannot be displayed check the Internet Explorer/ Internet Options/Connections/ LAN settings/ and tick Proxy server, where the address is the chosen LAN IP address ad the post is the one set in the configuration wizard. Make sure that the port is not used by a different application or choose a free port. Make sure that the port is not in use
For monitoring all computers, it is compulsory that all traffic is routed through the same proxy. All network members will be asked to make some changes to the browsers they are using. This can be done manually following the instructions detailed below, or by using the Client Configuration Utility from the Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy package.
Before proceeding to the manual client browser configuration, make sure that you know:
The server IP (the computer where the application is installed).
The port to be used. The default application port is: 8080.
If used in network please use the configuration utility to configure the proxy to listen for connections from the network IP address of the computer where Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy is installed, then set all internet browsers from the computer clients that are using Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy to access the Internet via a proxy connection and the proxy address is the address of the computer where the proxy is installed. For manually configuring your browser so that the application performs successfully please follow the paths below.
Go to Tools/Internet Options/Connections/LAN Settings/ Use a proxy server for your LAN/ Address - insert server IP (the computer where Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy is installed), then insert the port. The DEFAULT PORT is 8080. It can be changed using the configuration utility.
Click OK to save changes.
Go to Tools/Options/General/Connection Settings/Manual proxy configuration , insert HTTP proxy IP, (the computer where Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy is installed), then insert the port. The DEFAULT PORT is 8080. It can be changed using the configuration utility.
Click OK to save changes.
Go to Tools/Preferences/ Network/Proxy Server. The DEFAULT PORT is 8080. It can be changed using the configuration utility.
Click OK to save changes.
Go to Tools/Options/ General/Connection Settings/ Manual Proxy Configuration
Click OK to save changes.
Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy User Interface
The application web interface is available accessing: web.filter on your browser. For the moment, the interface supports only Internet Explorer browser.
Default login details for the Administrator account are:
- Username: admin
- Password: admin
Default login details for the User account are:
- Username: user
- Password: user
All these details can be changed / modified once you are logged in form the Administration/Account panel.
For logging out, press the Logout button on the right upper corner of the interface.
In the administration field, the application administrator sets the machines to be monitored.
The monitored machines are available in an IP list containing IP addresses, user names and computer names.
Adding an IP
In order to filter the Internet traffic on other machines you have to configure their proxy settings to use our product as proxy server. The settings for all browsers installed on client machines should be changed.
After you changed the proxy settings we recommend you to load a few web pages and see if they are loading correctly. If so, the client configuration is completed and you will be able to see the IP addresses of the client machines in the table above.
Delete IP
In order to delete an IP address we recommend you to change the proxy server settings on the specific machines. If the proxy settings are not modified, the IP address will be added into the list again.
If you already have an http proxy server that shares the Internet Connection in your LAN you can configure our product to forward the http requests to that proxy.
You have to enter the IP address and the Port of the existing http proxy and check the “I have an existing Http Proxy” option in order to configure our product to forward all the web requests received by our product to the already existing proxy. Our product will do the filtering part before sending the requests to the existing proxy server or after receiving the content from the existing proxy server (before sending the content to the final client). By using this feature our product filtering capabilities remain unchanged
If you do not have an existing proxy server please do not use this feature by checking options or filling data.
This section allows an easy management of the logs and space
Logging options
This division allows the application’s administrator to choose whether he/she wants to log the user’s traffic and activity or not.
By enabling the Log user traffic option, the Statistics Section will display the traffic report of the users, specifying the resources accessed by the computer and their size. If this option is disabled the traffic report will not display this information.
By enabling the Log filter activity option, the Statistics section will display the Filter activity report containing the breaking rules attempts. If this option is disabled the Filter activity report will not display this information.
For better dating the user activity and log storage management, Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy provides the possibility of choosing a specified day from a calendar. It has also two quick buttons: Delete Day Logs (erases a specified day logs) and Delete All Logs (erases all logs for that day.
Logs are presented in a log list, containing IP address, computer name, date, log size, and delete log button. The delete button was inserted for a better space management
Note: The daily logs are automatically removed after 3 months and after the containing data is aggregated in weekly, monthly and yearly reports.
This section allows administrators to customize the error pages sent to the users when they access a blocked resource.
The error pages available are:
Block url error page – the user is displayed this page when is trying to load a blocked website
Block file download error page – the user is displayed this page when is trying to download a file with an unauthorized extension
Block keyword content error page - the user is displayed this page when is trying to load forbidden content
Traffic size error page - the user is displayed this page when the maximum daily traffic allowed is exceeded.
After you select the error page you want to customize press Preview in order to preview changes and Save in order to save the page
There are two types of accounts:
Administrator account
User account
When you are logged as an Administrator there are no restriction regarding the functionality of Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy.
The User account allows only the viewing of the Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy Statistics section.
This field contains the registration details and the login information.
Default login information for the Administrator account is:
Username: admin
Password: admin
Default login information for the User account is:
Username: user
Password: user
How to change login details
Please choose the account type (Administration or User)
New Password
Retype Password
Note: Only the login password can be changed for users and administrators. The login names that are allowed by our product are admin and user – no new logins can be created.
In this section the administrator is allowed to configure the e-mail reporting settings in order to receive the reports generated by Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy to a specified e-mail address.
Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy allows multiple filters enabling for increased network protection. Filters can be a specific web page, a keyword, a group of letters, and an extension or file type.
The Filter Configuration section allows you to configure the filters, to
monitor their status and to manage the different groups.
The divisions of this section are:
Web Sites- blocks URL from being displayed.
Keywords & Profiles- blocks a web page containing a specified word from being displayed.
Files & Extensions- blocks access to different file types (archives, applications, audio-video, etc.)
Web Objects - Block Shockwave and Flash objects from running, incoming cookies from being set on your computer and outgoing cookies from being read from your computer.
Group Management – allows the application administrator to create different groups of users.
This filter blocks access to a specified web site or all web sites. In case of multiple websites on the same topic, the option URL pattern can be configured, enabling the filter to block all websites containing a keyword or a group of letters.
In the Web Sites filter section there are 2 running modes available:
Block all except the White List– by checking this Running Mode, the user will be authorized to browse only the websites added in the white list. The rest of the websites will be blocked. The Add Pattern option assures you that all websites containing the specified pattern will be allowed (like groups.google.com not only google.com).
Allow all except the Black List – by checking this Running Mode, the websites added in the black list will be blocked. The Add Pattern option assures you of blocking access to a range of website containing specified pattern in the url:
Example: if you add xxx as pattern – all website containing xxx in the url will be blocked.
Options:
For better property management, after you add the websites, there is the Remove option.
Exclude User – That user is no longer monitored. Pressing the Exclude user button will lead you to a new window. Choose the user you want to exclude than press Change to validate your request.
Exclude Group – The chosen group of users is no longer monitored. Pressing the Exclude Group button will lead you to a new window. Choose the group you want to exclude than press Change to validate your request.
Scheduler – removes IPs for a specified period of time from the filter action. To schedule filter activity, press the Scheduler button and chose the period when you want the filter to be inactive.
When the user tries to access a resource blocked by the filter, he/she will see the following message:
Note: For information about building custom error / blocked access pages go to Administration / Custom error pages section.
Options
This section also allows administrator to define maximum daily traffic allowed for each computer.
For enhanced protection, Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy has a keyword filter, meaning that it stops web pages containing in their body a specified word or a group of letters from being displayed.
In the Keywords & Profiles filter section you can choose to create your own Custom Word List and/or to use the predefined profiles provided by Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy.
If you choose to define your own, custom word list use the Add button in order to create the block list. When the keyword is found in the website body, that website will be replace with a page containing restriction details.
The Add non-english word option, included in this filter, allows blocking the access to non-english web sites as well. The web sites containing the specified non-english word will not be displayed.
When selecting the character set please read the following:
select Chirillic for Razeri, Belarusian, Bulgarian, FYRO Macedonian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Mongolian, Russian, Serbian, Tatar, Ukrainian, Uzbek, and Macedonian;
select Latin for Afrikaans, Basque, Danish, Dutch, Faroese, Finnish, French, German, Icelandic, Irish, Italian, Malay, Norvegian, Portuguese, Scottish, Spanish, Swedish, Swahili;
select Central European for Albanian, Croatian, Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Serbian (Latin), Slovak, Slovenian;
select Baltic for Lituanian, Latvian, Estonian;
select Arabic for Arabic, Farsi, Urdu.
If you choose the predefined profiles provided by Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy, check the appropriate profile in order to enable it.
Options:
For better property management, in case of changes in the word pattern contained in the sites to block you can access the Remove option.
Scheduler – removes IPs for a specified period of time from the filter action. To schedule filter activity, press the Scheduler button and chose the period when you want the filter to be inactive.
Exclude User – That user is no longer monitored. Pressing the Exclude user button will lead you to a new window. Chose the user you want to exclude than press Change to validate your request.
Exclude Group – The chosen group of users is no longer monitored. Pressing the Exclude Group button will lead you to a new window. Choose the group you want to exclude than press Change to validate your request.
When the user tries to access a resource blocked by the filter, he/she will see the following message:
In the Files & Extensions filter section you can choose to create your own Custom Extensions List and/or to use the already defined extensions provided by Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy.
If you choose to define your own, custom extension list use the Add button in order to create the block list.
Note: When a new extension is added – pdf for example you have to fill just the extension name (pdf). Using other combinations like .pdf or *.pdf is not supported and as result the access will not be blocked to the resources.
When blocking that type of file, the link will be redirected to an error page informing the blocked access to that specific file.
If you choose the predefined extensions as a Running Mode, please check the appropriate extension in order to enable the filter.
According to the chosen extension, the archive files, the applications and the audio-video files will be stop from being downloaded.
Options:
For better property management, in case you don't want to block an extension anymore, use the Remove option.
Scheduler – removes IPs for a specified period of time from the filter action. To schedule filter activity, press the Scheduler button and chose the period when you want the filter to be inactive.
Exclude user – That user is no longer monitored. Pressing the Exclude user button will lead you to a new window. Choose the user you want to exclude than press Change to validate your request.
Exclude Group – The chosen group of users is no longer monitored. Pressing the Exclude Group button will lead you to a new window. Choose the group you want to exclude than press Change to validate your request.
This section allows administrator to stop Shockwave-Flash Objects from being run and to stop Cookies from being set or read from your LAN Computers.
In the Web Objects filter section there are three Running Modes available:
Block Shockwave-Flash Objects - blocks the display of Shockwave and Flash applications within a web page. The content of the web site is loaded just the flash object is not shown.
For defining the URL pattern, click Add Pattern button then write the letter group contained in websites you would like to block.
Add All: by clicking this button, shockwave-flash objects from all websites will be blocked.
-
Block Incoming Cookies – This filter stops cookies from being set on a computer. It can be applied to a specified web page and also on web pages containing a keyword or a group of letters.
Cookies are usually set by web sites that need further user recognition or login details. It is recommended to check the login operation on these websites before blocking the access.
For defining the URL pattern, click the Add Pattern button then write the letter group contained in websites you would like to block.
Add All: by clicking this button, the incoming cookies for all websites will be blocked.
Block Outgoing Cookies – This filter stops cookies from being read from a computer. It can be applied to a specified web page and also on web pages containing a keyword or a group of letters.
Cookies are usually set by web sites that need further user recognition or login details. It is recommended to check the login operation on these websites before blocking the access.
For defining the URL pattern, click the Add Pattern button then write the letter group contained in websites you would like to block.
Add All: by clicking this button, the outgoing cookies for all websites will be blocked.
Options:
For better property management, the filter provides a Remove option.
Scheduler – removes IPs for a specified period of time from the filter action. To schedule filter activity, press the Scheduler button and chose the period when you want the filter to be inactive.
Exclude user – That user is no longer monitored. Pressing the Exclude user button will lead you to a new window. Chose the user you want to exclude than press Change to validate your request.
Exclude Group – The chosen group of users is no longer monitored. Pressing the Exclude Group button will lead you to a new window. Choose the group you want to exclude than press Change to validate your request.
All attempts to set cookies on your computer or read cookies from your computer will be blocked.
Group Management allows application manager to create groups for different categories of users.
Add Group - Create a new group for a specific category of users. After you include the computers’ IP in each group, you will se a detailed list.
Add computer - Assign computer/user to a specified group.
Delete Group - Choose the group you want to delete.
Rename Group - Choose the group you want to rename and enter the new name.
Delete Computer - Delete user/computer from the specified group.
After logging in, the page you are visualizing is the
statistics page. Traffic & Website panel reports the IP activity and size
(expressed in Megabytes - Mbytes) and chart in traffic. The View Log button
allows you to see the pages accessed. Below the table, there is the total
traffic made on the filtering proxy.
Logs can be visualized on specified dates, choosing the date from the calendar above the table.
The filter activity panel reports the results of the application usage.
The website visited and the action take by Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy are presented in a table format, accompanied by information on date, time, IP and computer name Filter action may be: URL blocked, download stopped, and incoming cookies blocked etc. Filter activity reports are available on daily basis.
Aggregated Traffic and Websites Statistics
This section contains detailed information regarding the Internet traffic made by the user. The table shows all the requests made by the browser to the web server including the size of the request in Kb (Kilobytes). Available periods for aggregating logs: this week, last two weeks, last month, last three months, last six months, last year.
The administrator can also see all resources accessed by that computer by pressing View Log button. Logs are available for various periods that can be displayed in the dropdown list. Available periods: this week, last two weeks, last month, last three months, last six months, last year.
This panel shows the aggregated filter activity for a specific period of time, period that can be chosen from the dropdown list. Available periods: this week, last two weeks, last month, last three months, last six months, last year.
Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy has an email reporting feature, meaning that the administrator can receive periodical emails containing the application’s reports.
How to configure email reporting
By default the email reporting feature is configured to use our mail server to deliver you the reports. In order to test this feature please enter your email address in the first field and press Test E-mail button. Check your email and see if you have received an email from cifp@amplusnet.com with the subject Email Reports from Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy and the attachment: test.zip.
Note: Other options that can be configured are:
the sending hour which allows you to specify when the emails should be sent:
your own email server details:
o Name – this is the information that will be present in the from field
o E-mail Address – the email address that will be used for sending the email
o Authentification Method that is supported by your SMPT server (the most common is AUTH LOGIN)
o User Name – is the SMPT server username (usually is full email address)
o Password – the password for the SMPT server
o Mail Server – the name or the IP address of your SMP server
o Port – the port used by your SMP server (the default value is 25)
The types of the reports that you will receive by email:
o Daily Traffic Report – this report will be delivered each day (at the hour that you have previously configured) and will contain the a table with all the IP addresses and the traffic (download and upload) for each of them;
o Weekly Traffic Report – this report aggregates the daily logs and provides the same data (traffic size for each IP) for a week.
o Monthly Traffic Report – this report aggregates the weekly logs and provides the same data (traffic size for each IP) for a month.
o Daily Filter Activity Report – shows a table with the Date, Time, IP Address, Web Site and Filter Type that blocked the user access to a web resource.
o Weekly Filter Activity Report – aggregates the daily reports into a single report
o Monthly Filter Activity Report – aggregates the weekly reports into a single report
Use Save settings to validate your options.
Allows you to backup / restore your settings. This feature is useful for companies that have multiple instances of Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy installed, in order to have the settings (filtering policy) on all servers.
You can check which settings will be included in the backup:
Web Sites (which websites are blocked and which are allowed; black list and white list)
Keywords & Profiles (the list of blocked words and the profiles)
Files & Extensions (the list of file types that are blocked)
Scheduler for the Filters (if you have defined a scheduler for the filtering policy this can be included in the backup)
Rules for each IP (the list of IP addressed that are excluded from the filtering policy)
Groups (the group structure that you have defined)
Passwords (user and admin passwords can be included in the backup).
When Backup Button is pressed, a zip file is created and stored into the application folder (usually c:\Program Files\CIFP). The zip file name is CIFPBackup_month_day_year.zip (example CIFPBackup_07_19_2007.zip).
When Restore button is pressed you will be able to select a zip file (named CIFPBackup_month_day_year.zip) from the installation folder (usually c:\Program Files\CIFP) which will be used to restore the settings. Please note that the RESTORE will overwrite the existing settings with the settings (filtering policy, ip rules, passwords) stored in the backup file.
Client Installation
CIFPClient.exe - (invisible in Task Manager, recommended to be installed on computer running on Windows 2000, XP, 2003 operating systems). The Windows 98 and me machines cannot be monitored.
CIFPNetClient.dll - this application should be installed in networks using GPO (Group Policy Object).
Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy Client Installation
The images below will guide you through the setup process
At the end of the application installation, the following dialog box will appear, allowing the Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy Client configuration.
Information needed to be filled in is the name of the server or the IP address of the server - on which Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy Server is installed. The Server Port default value is 8585. Test if the client can connect to the server by pressing Test Server Connection button. It is recommended to test the connection before proceeding to the next client. After filling in all fields, press the Save Settings button.
You will receive the following message.
Cyclope Internet Filtering Net Client Installation
These parameters are:
"-cfg=[srv=CYLOPE_SERVER&srvport=CYLOPE_SERVER_PORT]"
The parameters are identical with the one used by Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy Client Configuration.
The CIFPNETClient may be started each time a user logs on, by using a GPO (Group Policy Object). To create this:
1. A GPO has to be linked to an OU (Organizational Unit).
- In Active Directory Users and Computers, right click the OU and select Properties.
- In the group Policy Tab a new GPO may be created for the OU or an existing unlinked GPO may be linked to the current OU.
2. Click Edit to edit the GPO Properties or open a MMC with the wanted GPO snap-in
4. Click Add and Browse to a script (from a share or from the local computer) that starts an application. The script is written in Windows Script Host.
Each time a user that has the GPO – linked, logs on, the application is started.
Example of the script: winScript.vbs
Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.Run rundll32.exe \\Share\CIFPNetClient.dll rdl -cfg=[srv=10.0.0.1&srvport=8585]"
Note: do not use share names with spaces (like: \\share clients cyclope). If spaces are present the client applications will not start
ALTERNATIVE SCRIPT
Dim WshShell
Dim value
Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject ("WScript.shell")
value = "rundll32.exe \\10.0.0.1:8585\Client\CIFPNetClient.dll rdl -cfg=[srv=10.0.0.1&srvport=8585]"
WshShell.RegWrite "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\cy", value
For creating winScript.vbs (the name can be diffrent) copy & paste from this document (based on Cyclope that you want to deploy CIFPClient.dll) and replace the parameters from cfg=[srv=10.0.0.1&srvport=8585] with:
- srv= The name or the IP address of the machine on which you have installed Cyclope Internet Filtering Proxy server
- srvport =8585 - the default value for port
Client Uninstall
This security check prevents unauthorised users from disalbling the client application. The requested password is cyclopeadmin123x.
Press Uninstall Now Button in order to complete the process.
In order to register your product please go to:
http://www.cylope-series.com/products/internet-filtering/order.html
Before proceeding, make sure that you have disabled the product so that the payment processing service provider web page can be accessed without any restrictions.
The license key and registration instructions will be sent by email.
