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I am reasearching a product to protect my 9-year-old son from adult content on the Internet. &nbsp;From my research it appears that WebWatcher is one of the best. I am also a network administrator and the capability of a product like WebWatcher is quite scary from a corporate point of view. &nbsp;After it is installed on a PC it is essentially invisible. Nothing visible in the registry, nothing in the directory structure, and nothing in Add/Remove Programs. &nbsp;Further, it specifically says no known antivirus product will detect its existence. I have confirmed that data is sent out from the monitored PC via port 80 (the same port a browser typically uses) and similarly the monitoring PC needs only port 80 as well. &nbsp;Therefore it is unlikely a firewall will block this program. &nbsp;Do you know if this program installs as a root kit? Do you know if there is anyway for a company to know if such a product is installed anywhere in the organization? Thank you.<br />

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I am reasearching a product to protect my 9-year-old son from adult content on the Internet.  From my research it appears that WebWatcher is one of the best. I am also a network administrator and the capability of a product like WebWatcher is quite scary from a corporate point of view.  After it is installed on a PC it is essentially invisible. Nothing visible in the registry, nothing in the directory structure, and nothing in Add/Remove Programs.  Further, it specifically says no known antivirus product will detect its existence. I have confirmed that data is sent out from the monitored PC via port 80 (the same port a browser typically uses) and similarly the monitoring PC needs only port 80 as well.  Therefore it is unlikely a firewall will block this program.  Do you know if this program installs as a root kit? Do you know if there is anyway for a company to know if such a product is installed anywhere in the organization? Thank you.


Questions Regarding Security Implications of Products Like WebWatcher

Operating system security (OS security) is the process of ensuring OS integrity, confidentiality and availability. OS security refers to specified steps or measures used to protect the OS from threats, viruses, worms, malware or remote hacker intrusions. OS security encompasses all preventive-control techniques, which safeguard any computer assets capable of being stolen, edited or deleted if OS security is compromised, including authentication, passwords and threats to systems and programs.

OS Security

Security is the protection of information systems from theft or damage to the hardware, the software, and the information on them, as well as from disruption or misdirection of the services they provide. The main goal of security is protecting assets, and an asset is anything of value and worthy of protection.  Information Security is a discipline of protecting information assets from threats through safeguards to achieve the objectives of confidentiality, integrity, and availability or CIA for short. On the other hand, disclosure, alteration, and disruption (DAD) compromise the security objectives.

Security

A vulnerability is a weakness which allows an attacker to reduce a system's information assurance. Vulnerability is the intersection of three elements: a system susceptibility or flaw, attacker access to the flaw, and attacker capability to exploit the flaw. To exploit a vulnerability, an attacker must have at least one applicable tool or technique that can connect to a system weakness, known as the attack surface. Vulnerability management is the cyclical practice of identifying, classifying, remediating, and mitigating vulnerabilities. Other vulnerabilities include security risks, security defects and constructs in programming languages that are difficult to use properly.