The Fowlerville Community Schools, a K-12 institution, has all the regular security needs of an educational institution. They need to restrict Internet usage to prevent students from viewing inappropriate material and downloading unnecessary files like music and movies. However, their content filtering system was outdated and required a lot of active management. Register for this free case study and read why Astaro Security Gateway 525 was selected over Cisco and Fortinet to filter content on their network, which is used by approximately 3,500 students and faculty.
Success Story www.astaro.com
Success Story
Astaro Receives an "A" at Fowlerville Community School
Fowlerville Community Schools block inappropriate web content with AstaroThe Problem provided consistent content filtering updates so The Fowlerville Community Schools, a K-12 the network would evolve to block newly created institution, has all the regular security needs of undesirable sites; and a solution that would an educational institution. They need to restrict seamlessly integrate into their E-Directory Internet usage to prevent students from viewing environment. inappropriate material and downloading Siwek also needed the ability to audit Internet About Astaro CorporationCombining best of breed applications, unnecessary files like music and movies. usage to determine if student misconduct did the proven quality of Linux and However, their content filtering system was take place so he could take action to rectify the enterprise level performance, outdated and required a lot of active weakness. Finally, the school district needed to Astaro's award-winning products provide selective access to several web services provide the latest protection with the that it hosts on its servers. best total cost of ownership. Software, hardware and virtual The Solution appliance offerings provide users the Siwek considered implementing Cisco and flexibility to meet a wide variety of Fortinet "But once I saw the Astaro management deployment scenarios. Distributed by a growing worldwide network of more interface and spoke to other Astaro customers I than 3,000 resellers, Astaro products was sold," said Siwek. The Fowlerville protect over 47,000 businesses in 60 management. The school district's reporting tool Community Schools implemented an Astaro countries. Astaro offers free required Joshua Siwek, Network Specialist at Security Gateway 525 to filter content on their downloads www.astaro.com.Fowlerville Community Schools, to import files network, which is used by approximately 3,500 into excel and then search through all of the students and faculty. Internet traffic to determine what new Success with Astaro anonymous proxy servers students were using to bypass their old firewall and then add the site to With the Astaro Security Gateway, Siwek has the block list. Siwek explained, "I was adding seen a dramatic increase in their content filtering About Fowlerville Community about a dozen new sites a week, and sifting reliability. "Our students are no longer able to Schoolsthrough each report took hours of my time." download installable programs from the Internet and I am much more confident that the border The Fowlerville Community Schools The Requirements between our internal network and the Internet is are a kindergarten through twelfth The main feature requirement the Fowlerville secure because the filters and reports are grade public school system with Community Schools needed was the ability to seven buildings on campus. The generated in such a way that it is very easy to Fowlerville Community Schools are restrict access to inappropriate websites. monitor and examine," he said. The consistent committed to providing a quality Because students were becoming more and more updates Fowlerville Community Schools receive educational experience for all also increases Siwek's confidence in his network students in a safe, orderly, healthy security. and nurturing environment. The " I s p e n d v e r y l i t t l e t i m e district's guiding principles are In addition to the enhanced content filtering, administering our firewall now." educational excellence, effective Siwek is also enjoying increased productivity as -Joshua Siwek, Network Specialist at leadership, personal integrity, mutual he is no longer spending time sifting through respect and continuous improvement Fowlerville Community Schools Internet usage reports. Siwek continued: "I no through staff, student and community longer have to scan our logs for proxy bypass involvement. web savvy, the community schools also needed a websites, and if I do have to check on a user, it product that would ensure students couldn't is extremely easy to go into the web interface circumvent the school's firewall via proxy bypass and do a search on their user ID. I spend very sites. Siwek wanted an easy-to-use solution that little time administering our firewall now." ... [download for more]
