Working as a network security professional and father of three, I always thought the one thing I wouldn’t have to worry about is my kids getting into trouble on the Internet on our home PC. Porn sites blocked. Sites of violence and hate, do not go. Google safe search, activated. Instant messaging, registered. There is no way a 13 year old could have the knowledge or resources to trick this old man into accessing the unfiltered internet. Not on my watch, right? Well think again…
I came across a little app a couple of days ago that changed everything. Its name is “Ultrasurf”. It is developed in China and is used by Chinese citizens to bypass government-run Internet filters, dubbed the “Great Firewall of China.” I’m sure some of you have heard of this, and I got to see it first hand on a recent trip to Shanghai. The Chinese government definitely does not believe in press freedom, as it goes to great lengths to deny citizens open access to information provided by the Internet.
Ultrasurf is an amazing little app, that can render almost any web security app completely useless. You can add a proxy server to the settings if you are in a corporate or educational environment and want to make your security controls completely useless. In the home PC scenario, this is not necessary. The app then opens a new Internet Explorer window that directs any of your web requests to the ultrasurf program. Ultrasurf then encrypts your traffic and forwards it to one of thousands of seemingly random IP addresses before sending the request to the final destination. At this point, your security software only sees traffic going to random IP addresses that are encrypted (it can’t inspect this traffic) instead of the site you requested, making it nearly impossible to detect and block.
I have tested this software on both very expensive corporate proxy server solutions and home filtering software, and have still found something that is capable of filtering requests that go through the Ultrasurf app. All this and it’s incredibly easy to find and use. If your kids get hold of this, and lots of kids are already using it in schools, it’s game over. The net nanny is dead.
What can you do to block this? As of this writing, I am aware of only one antivirus vendor that will currently classify this software as a “potentially unwanted program”, McAfee. Otherwise, if you’re not a McAfee customer, all you can do is keep an eye on the app on the screenshot when your kids are using the computer. Happy surfing!