Re: [logs] Starting a proxy log analysis regime from the ground up

From: Hal Snyder (halat_private)
Date: Tue Sep 18 2001 - 21:36:36 PDT

  • Next message: Andrew Hilborne: "Re: [logs] Log rotation tools"

    Administrator <Administratorat_private> writes:
    
    > I work as the technician/administrator for a UK secondary school
    > with aprox 300 windows PC's (mostly win2k and some win98) and 2
    > win2k servers.
    > 
    > Our internet access passes through a filtering program (CyberPatrol)
    > but I am aware that this is never 100% effective.
    > 
    > At present, when I find a spare chunk of time, I wade through our
    > proxy-logs looking for something that "doesn't look right". 
    > Obviously this is a less than efficient way of going about things.
    > 
    > Can anyone here advise me on the best way of developing my log
    > analysis scheme?  E.g. Log analyser packages, 'tips of the trade',
    > that sort of thing.
    > 
    > My principle concerns are :
    > 
    > *) Detecting access to inappropriate websites that CyberPatrol has missed.
    
    Grepping the logs won't tell you whether a site was "inappropriate".
    But you can look for changes in number of log entries per day, per
    user, per site, etc. to detect differences in use.
    
    I would add to the list of concerns:
    
    *) Detecting benign sites to which access is inappropriately blocked
    
    especially with CyberPatrol.
    
    http://www.peacefire.org/censorware/Cyber_Patrol/
    http://www.netfreedom.org/news.asp?item=117
    
    > *) Detecting attempts to subvert the security system from within
    
    At a secondary school there is a great opportunity for promising
    students to learn about network security - one could start a
    project, unrelated to content filtering, to produce a secure http
    proxy.
    
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