posted by: Matt on May 12, 2009 6:45 AM
filed in: application usage & risk report, Firewall
tagged: application usage & risk report, circumvention, Firewall
Hulu Networks’ Battle Against External Proxies
This TechCrunch article outlines how Hulu Networks, the rapidly growing purveyor of streaming HD content, is taking some fairly extreme steps to make sure that their content is only accessed by users in the US. Apparently anyone with an anonymous IP address is blocked. An interesting step that will, in all likelihood, fail.
Why? It’s all about numbers. There are millions of users worldwide who want access to their content. And as we discuss in this ThreatPost article, users will proactively circumvent controls. A 45 second search on the web provides a wealth of information on how to circumvent security controls and blocking mechanisms. Some examples:
* There are at least 7700 public proxies that users can access merely by visiting proxy.org.
* Users can build their own private proxy.
* Visit circumventor.net to find a list of circumvention tools.
* There are new encrypted tunneling applications like Gbridge popping up on a regular basis.
I could go on. And while I am sure that Hulu has a very smart and dedicated team of IT professionals, can they win against millions? My view is that they will not because of the sheer numbers. But I do wish them luck. But let’s look on the bright side, they have a good product and people want it.
Thanks for reading.
posted by: Chris King on April 28, 2009 2:27 PM
filed in: application usage & risk report
tagged: circumvention
Found On Lifehacker – an easy way past workplace security controls
Anybody can set up external proxies.
Here’s an article I found on Lifehacker, a useful, mainstream website. The article points to a step-by-step tutorial on how to circumvent IT’s security controls using FreeProxy. Have a look.
Matt talks a little about circumventing applications in this post, and they are covered extensively in our Application Usage and Risk Report.
posted by: Mike on October 5, 2007 2:53 PM
filed in: Firewall
tagged: circumvention, streaming media
Joost Opens 1.0 Beta
ALERT – The wait is over… No longer do users need a precious invitation to join the closed Joost beta to experience IPTV at its best. Joost has recently opened their 1.0 beta to the public. Enhancements include a slightly revised user interface and open API for 3rd party widget development. Joost has differentiated themselves from other online content providers in both delivery and quality of content. By using a peer-to-peer distributed streaming model to deliver video content, as opposed to relying on a central server, Joost is able to provide more efficient (for them) delivery of video content. Faster streaming of video content is nice, but providing professionally-produced content is a key component as well. Joost has done well securing distribution deals with Viacom, CBS, and Turner Networks for high-quality television content.
Administrators need to be aware that Joost is designed to evade detection from corporate firewalls and usage within their organizations can potentially consume large amounts of bandwidth and productivity. In April 2007 when the private beta started, Palo Alto Networks released an App-ID that gives customers visibility and control over Joost traffic – allowing it to be blocked or simply marked with a QoS tag for prioritization at the WAN gateway.
For more information about Joost click here.
