The
majority of attacks and exposure to malicious content occurs during the
normal course of web browsing activities, which requires the ability to allow
safe, secure web access for all users. URL Filtering with PAN-DB
automatically prevents attacks that leverage the web as an attack vector,
including phishing links in emails, phishing sites, HTTP-based command and
control, malicious sites and pages that carry exploit kits.
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Symantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services
Score 8.0 out of 10
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Symantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services (formerly Blue Coat WebFilter) is a web application protection and web content filtering solution, designed to allow users to control access to web content and block web threats with advanced threat defense and real-time global threat intelligence.
Palo Alto Networks Advanced URL Filtering protects computers and workloads from malware and viruses and also monitors endpoints and web activity for other advanced, persistent threats.Advanced URL Filtering protects can allow a company to improve the productivity of the workforce. Employees will always slack off from time to time, but web filters can help to reduce the number of lost hours. Palo Alto Networks Advanced URL Filtering is well suited If your company want to improve your security posture, reduce the potential for productivity losses, and reduce legal liability.
Having an end to end solution for web / mobile applications in terms of protecting it from online cyber security threats, Symantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services provides great solution. You also get an ability to configure your security profile so that the contents that may be desired for you but not recommended can be allowed on your network
The top down URL filtering match can sometimes be tricky as the user may match something higher in the list and not receive all the permissions you intended.
The reporting feature for specific URL's could be more easily configured.
There is an additional cost for the URL filtering license.
It is very easy to use and setup. It integrates well within all of Palo's products such as NGFWs and Prisma Access. There is a dedicated log inside of Palo products for URL filtering to aid in troubleshooting. It integrates with AD/Azure so that different users can have different URL filtering rules. Filtering can be adjusted in real-time
I really like the system, it's easy to use and mostly intuitive. I would have gone 10/10, but the management interface uses Java, and that seems to always make things a bit harder to start. Once everything is loaded and running, it's great - but it does require me to maintain a compatible version of Java on the machine I use to access the system, I'd be much happier with some kind of HTML5 interface. I also deducted 1 point for the functionality of the refer filter - it works as expected, but if the site isn't coded with the correct refer header, like Microsoft's site - then some page elements get stripped and pages only render about 98% correctly. I know that's not in Symantec's list of responsibilities, but having a filter that doesn't fully understand CDNs is worth the 1 point ding.
Palo support is excellent, and I have never had to wait when contacting them for support. One of the best support teams in the business, in my opinion.
I've had exactly 1 problem in 8 years, I contacted support via the customer portal, less than an hour later I found myself in a screen share with a support tech who not only fixed my configuration error, but also took the time to ask about my usage and offered some great tips on changes. It was just one support incident, but I was impressed by the speed of response to a non-critical issue as well as the depth of product knowledge the support engineer had.
Barracuda was a good product but couldn't keep up with our needs as we grew bigger. Forcepoint had the worst technical support I've ever seen. Palo outshines them all.
Symantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services solution was a simple 1U appliance that does everything we need, compared to the Forcepoint solution which required a virtual appliance, a database server, a log server, and a management server - the licensing costs alone make the Symantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services solution a clear winner. The Forcepoint solution is really good, it just requires such a big footprint without delivering much beyond what the Symantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services solution does with a single unit.
