| Developer(s) | Office Efficiencies (India) Private Limited |
|---|---|
| Stable release | Linux: ntlm-RC4.3.2 / Windows: 3.4.6.1[2] / Linux: 6 October 2011 / Windows: 9 May 2011 |
| Operating system | Linux, Microsoft Windows |
| Type | Proxy, Content filtering, Content-control software |
| License | Proprietary. No charge for three users or less. |
| Website | http://www.safesquid.com/ |
SafeSquid is content-control software: software designed to control which websites users can access.[1] [2] Its developed by Office Efficiencies which is based in Mumbai.[3] It also provides caching, virus scanning, usage monitoring, bandwidth control, authentication, and other features.[4] SafeSquid is mainly used by schools, businesses, and value-added ISPs.
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SafeSquid is commercial software, but it is offered at zero cost to networks that have 3 or less users.
SafeSquid provides a web interface to make it easier for system administrators to configure it.
SafeSquid's "Profiles" feature lets administrators group users into groups and set different filtering settings for different groups.
SafeSquid allows blocking of certain MIME types (file types, such as audio, video, or Flash). It allows the use of regular expressions to modify the contents of web pages before they are displayed. For example, this filtering can be used to remove Javascript and ActiveX content from untrustworthy websites before serving a page to users. It is possible to configure SafeSquid to hide online ads and banners[5] to save bandwidth and reduce distractions.
SafeSquid also can used to block porn pictures. It analyzes the graphical content like skin tone, contour, etc. to identify a pornographic image. It is a commercially distributed add-on plug-in and can be used with SafeSquid to block pornographic images. Although it is about 85%-90% accurate, it acts as a good deterrent. [6]
SafeSquid can be used to protect against viruses, worms, spyware and other malware. SafeSquid features Clients for AntiVirus Daemons like Clam,[7] F-Prot, Sophos, Kaspersky and Avast. It supports the Internet Content Adaptation Protocol standard which is commonly used for connecting web filters with security software.
SafeSquid saves temporary cached copies of frequently visited websites to help save bandwidth and enhance access speed to those sites. SafeSquid can also share cache content with other caching proxy servers, using Internet Cache Protocol and Cache Array Routing Protocol. It can forward requests through any other proxy, SOCKS4 or SOCKS5 firewall.
SafeSquid is PAM-aware, and allows users to be authenticated from external servers like Active Directory, LDAP, RADIUS, or MySQL. Administrators can also define user accounts manually using SafeSquid's web interface.
SafeSquid generates log files. Log analyzers like Sawmill[8] and Webalizer can parse the logs and generate log analysis reports for user monitoring.
SafeSquid acts as a content filtering web proxy. It does its job using blacklists which list forbidden sites.