Category Archives: Tech Tips

Wavecrest Technical Support Is Here to Help You

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We often get great feedback on our helpful technical support from both customers or those simply evaluating our product. For those of you that have not had the pleasure of working with our technical support yet, we want to invite you to contact us about any questions you have on your CyBlock or Cyfin product.  You can check out our services and contact information below. And of course we’re here for those of you that we have had the pleasure of helping in the past.

At Wavecrest, we listen to our customers, and the majority of the new features that show up in our products have come from communications with our customers.  Our customers are the most valuable asset we have, and we appreciate every single one of you.  Thank You!

We invite those of you that have used our support services in the past to leave a comment about your experience.  We’d love the feedback.

Wavecrest Technical Support Services

  • Support via Telephone and Email. Technical and customer support representatives are available to answer questions about product setup, policy support usage, technical issues and more—via phone or email at no cost.
  • Product Installation Support. Although our products are easy to install and integrate, a technical specialist will be available to help you ensure a smooth startup.
  • Quick Start guides. Each product includes a built-in “Quick Start” guide that walks you through basic setup and usage steps. Complete user manuals are also provided.
  • Online Support Forum. Ask a question and find answers from other product users and our own technical support specialists on the forum.
  • Blog, Twitter or Facebook Updates. Get product tech tips and keep up-to-date on the latest product news by either subscribing to our feed or following us.
  • Product Upgrades. Product upgrades are included in the cost of your annual license.
  • On-line Web Conference. This valuable customer communications tool enables our Support staff to more easily and quickly address any product-related questions, provide assistance with setup and/or troubleshoot technical issues. We also use it to demonstrate the product and provide product evaluators a better understanding of the functionality.
  • Categorization list updates. Updates to Wavecrest’s URL list are available for download on a daily basis.
  • The OtherWise Program (Reports Enhancement and Optimization).  The centerpiece of our continuous support services concept is a program we call “OtherWise.”  Under this voluntary and confidential arrangement, we work individually with customers to maximize the number and percentage of Web sites that the Wavecrest product identifies and categorizes. The program focuses on sites that are of particular interest to the individual organization and/or are popular with its workforce.

Contact Information
Toll-free: 877-442-9346, ext 4(U.S. and Canada)
Direct: 321-953-5351, ext 4
International:001-321-953-5351, ext 4 (outside U.S. and Canada)
Email: support@wavecrest.net
Forum: forum.wavecrest.net

Wavecrest Products’ Database Storage Location

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As many of you may already know, Wavecrest’s Cyfin and CyBlock products include a Data Manager.  The Data Manager compresses logfile data. This reduces report-generation time by more than 95 percent (compared to methods that generate reports by reading logfiles directly). We highly recommended that you use the Data Manager.

There are two database setups in the Data Manager with the installation of Wavecrest products: Dashboard and Mass Storage.

Dashboard (High-level) Database. This database is designed to store high-level data that are used to generate sophisticated summary-level trending and comparison charts on the Dashboard.

Mass Storage (Low-level) Database. This highly scalable database is designed to store huge amounts of detailed, ‘low-level’ Web-use data. The reports that are supported by this database include audit detail reports that provide every URL visited by a user, category or domain.

The Dashboard database and the Mass Storage database data are stored in your installation path by default. You can move the path of these databases to a drive that has more disk space, which you will need as the databases grow. The Logfiles – Data Manager – Settings screen gives you the option to change the path for both databases.

Note: When changing the path for the Mass Storage database .war files, the product will move the .war files to the  new location for you. With the Dashboard database, the Superview folder (C:\Program Files\Wavecrest\Cyfin\wc\cf\db\Superview) will need to be manually copied to the new location.

Detecting and Controlling Unauthorized Outbound Connections

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Do you have a good handle on all outbound connections from your network, and how do you know?  Many times legitimate programs and applications downloaded are creating outbound connections without your knowledge or approval.  This can cause a serious drain on an organization’s network resources.  This exact scenario recently happened to a Wavecrest customer, and with the help of Wavecrest’s reports and technical support specialists, they were able to locate a program that was making 1,400+ outbound connections a day without their knowledge.

Many times, a program like this can be running in the background without the organization’s knowledge and is not necessarily identifiable in the process table.  It can only be caught if an organization is monitoring outbound Web connections through reports such as the ones in Wavecrest’s Cyfin and CyBlock products.

In this particular scenario, the customer became knowledgeable of these unauthorized outbound connections because there were a couple of users being locked out of their computers.  To troubleshoot the issue, they along with Wavecrest technical support used the Authentication Manager in their CyBlock Proxy product to investigate.  They found that the users’ computers were creating some outbound traffic that was not authenticating with the proper credentials, thus eventually locking the users out due to an authentication security setting the organization had on their Active Directory configuration.  By using the Authentication Manager, Real-time Web Monitor and other reports, our technical support specialists were able to identify the file that was making these unauthorized outbound connections and remove it from the computers.

This scenario proves that it is important to be aware of what is going on in your network, and Wavecrest’s products can help IT administrators do that. There are several steps you can take to prevent and identify these types of problems in your network.

  1. Use reporting tools to spot unusual activity.
    1. Look for unusual patterns of Web activity.
      1. Review Dashboard trends to spot any unexpected spikes in activity.
      2. Review Dashboard top sites and top categories charts to find any unexpected sites or categories showing up in the top ten all of the sudden.
      3. Run a Site Analysis report at least once a week and be alert to changes in the volume and pattern of outbound Web activity. For example, if a single user is suddenly logging thousands of visits a day, chances are there’s an issue. That’s because “human” activity is usually more random.
    2. Watch the following categories: IP Address, Spyware/Malicious, Unsolicited or Push, Phishing/Fraud and Uncategorized “Other” Sites. High activity in these categories should raise a red flag for administrators. High traffic volume here warrants further investigation.
    3. Identify the source of the problem. Dig deeper by running a Category Audit Detail report to uncover both the site and the affected user. If your Category Audit Detail report shows an unusual number of hits to a specific Web site, that site is most likely the source of the issue.  You can also monitor the traffic in real time using the Real-Time Monitor to uncover the site causing the problem.
  2. Update your Web-use management tools.
    1. Update your Acceptable Use Policy. Employees need to understand the risks of Web surfing. Minimize risks of Internet abuse by implementing a policy to curtail at-work surfing and communicate it clearly to employees.
    2. Update your Wavecrest list. The Wavecrest control list is updated daily. We recommend downloading your Wavecrest control list daily to minimize the number of visits categorized as “Other” and ensure the best coverage possible. You can set Cyfin and CyBlock to do this automatically on the Administration – URL List – Schedule screen. (Note: If you spot a problem Web site that is uncategorized, email it to us at sites@wavecrest.net. Our site analysts will review the site and categorize it appropriately.)
  3. Contact Wavecrest Technical Support. Our support specialist are always eager to help you troubleshoot any issues you are having by helping you get the best out of the features and tools our products offer.

For more information on how Wavecrest’s products can help keep your network safe, we recommend you read our previous blog post on “Controlling Spyware” and “The Purpose of the IP Address Category.”

Note: The program in question that is addressed in this post is the Akamai NetSession Interface. It was hitting cn1.redswoosh.akadns.net and cn2.redswoosh.akadns.net 1400+ times a day. The program was located at C:\Program Files\Common Files\Akamai\AdminTool.exe. To remove the program with Wavecrest’s help, the customer:

  1. Opened the Command Prompt
  2. Went to the folder location by typing”Program Files\Common Files\Akamai”
  3. Then typed “admin uninstall-force” to remove it.

Remember: Our technical support specialists are here to help. If you ever need help with your product configuration or see something unusual in a report or on the real-time monitor that you are unsure about, please feel free to contact Wavecrest technical support, and they will be happy to help you.

Technical Support Contact Information
Direct: 321-953-5351, ext. 4
Toll-Free: 877-442-9346 ext. 4
Email: support@wavecrest.net

Check Out the New Report Guide to CyBlock and Cyfin Reports

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If you are ever unsure about what a term or metric in a report means, check out our new Report Guide.  It includes key concepts and definitions to help you gain a better understanding of the data displayed and how combining different reports can get you the exact information you need.  The guide also includes a detailed list of every standard report with a description of the information provided in each.  Check out the report guide and bookmark it in case you ever need to refer to it in the future.  You can always find it on our Web site too under Support Documentation for your specific Wavecrest product.

Make Sure Web Use Data Is Imported Without Error

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When raw logfile data is being imported into the Data Manager, occasionally an error can occur with the import. If an error occurs and you are not aware of it, this data will not appear in reports, and data can be skewed. To avoid this, we recommend that you set the product to notify you if an error ever does occur with the import.

To set the email notification, go to Logfiles – Data Manager and click on the Settings link. Select the Enable radio button to Notify Admin of Errors and click Submit to save your changes. An email will now be sent to the Administrator email address that you set at the Setup – Email screen if there is ever an error with the import.

Tech Tip: Re-Installing or Changing Wavecrest Products

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If you are ever attempting to “re-install” any of our products, or if you are changing from one product to another, you may encounter an error message with the ‘fresh’ install.  The error message will read “Unable to detect previous configured files…”.  This error indicates that previous files have been left behind by the uninstaller.  To get rid of them, delete the folder ‘…\Wavecrest\’.  (The default location for this folder is C:\Program Files\Wavecrest\.)  Next, reboot your machine and then attempt to re-install the product. You should be successful now!

Managing Categorization in CyBlock and Cyfin

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CyBlock and Cyfin offers the advanced functionality for you to manage and customize the categorization of sites. By using these categorization features, you can maximize the overall usefulness of your CyBlock or Cyfin product. Follow these 5 tips to get the most out of categorization.

1. Keep your categorization list current via daily updates.
Wavecrest site analysts work continuously to update and expand the categorization list. In fact, the Wavecrest URL list is 100% human reviewed. These updates are available for download daily. It’s a simple process that can be done manually or on an automatic/scheduled basis. You can download the URL list or schedule the download to occur daily on the Administration – URL List screen.

2. Establish custom categories.
Augment Wavecrest’s standard 74 categories with custom categories. You can add up to 25 custom categories. You can activate and use as many or as few of these as you want, and you can easily give them specific names of your own choosing. Names are limited to 50 characters. These settings are found on the Advanced Settings — Category Setup — Name Custom screen. Once a custom category has been established, you can augment the Wavecrest URL List with URLs of your own choosing and place them in the custom category for subsequent monitoring or filtering. Custom categories also provide white list (allow-only) capability for CyBlock users.

3. Add URLs.
You can add URLs to both the Wavecrest standard and custom categories. The applicable settings are found on the Advanced Settings — Category Setup — Edit URLs screen. You can also delete URLs here.

4. Change a URL’s category.
If you wish, you can change the category to which Wavecrest has assigned a particular URL. You can do this by simply adding the URL to the category of your choice. Your categorization will take permanent precedence over the Wavecrest URL list.

5. Participate in our OtherWise program.
To opt in our OtherWise program, you simply need to periodically run a Top Non-categorized Sites report and email a copy to sites@wavecrest.net. Our list technicians will research, identify and categorize the most popular unidentified sites, many of which will be of local or special interest to your organization. Then, after you download the next daily control list update, subsequent visits to those sites by your users will no longer be listed as “Other.” They’ll be properly identified and categorized. NOTE: We hold all customer information sent to us in strict confidence.

Display ID and IP in Wavecrest’s CyBlock and Cyfin Reports

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There is an option to display both the user ID and IP address in reports. To do so, go to the Advanced Settings – Report Settings page in your CyBlock or Cyfin product and open the Advanced Options link. On this screen, you will see an option to “Display Login Name and IP Address.” Simply click the checkbox so that it is enabled and click Submit. Now you will see both login names and IP addresses when running user reports.

Improve Your Web-Use Reports with Wavecrest’s OtherWise Service

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If you are an evaluator or customer of Wavecrest CyBlock and Cyfin products and are not already using our OtherWise service, we invite you to reduce the number of non-categorized sites and improve your reports . OtherWise is a voluntary and confidential program under which a site analyst will help you improve the quality and usability of your reports. This service is offered for free to all Wavecrest customers. To participate in OtherWise, follow these simple steps.

  1. Go to Reports – Schedule and click on the Create link.
  2. Select the Top Non-Categorized Sites report.
  3. For Report Delivery, select to email the report to other recipient, and type in sites@wavecrest.net in the text field.
  4. For the Timeframe, we recommend running the report weekly or monthly.
  5. Click Submit to save your changes, and the report will now be emailed automatically to our site analysts at Wavecrest on a weekly or monthly basis (depending on the frequency you selected).

From now on, no further action is needed on your part. A site analyst will review the report to categorize any non-categorized sites and if necessary, alert you if there is any suspicious activity.

Visit our Web site or contact us to learn more about our OtherWise program.

Setting the Time Zone in CyBlock Appliance

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If you notice that the set time zone in your CyBlock Appliance is incorrect, then simply follow the below instructions for checking and setting the time zone to the correct time.

  1. To check the date and time zone set in CyBlock Appliance, go to the screen https://yourappliance/help/systeminformation/shell/index.html. Use your server name or IP in place of “yourappliance.”
  2. Run the following command:
    date
  3. Hit Enter.
  4. You should now see the current set date and time for the Appliance.
  5. If it is not the correct date and time, then run the following command:
    date -s “20May 2010 16:00:00” (Type in the date and time that is current for your time zone.)
  6. Hit Enter, and this will set the appliance to the correct date and time.
  7. To double check that the appliance is now set to the correct date and time, run the date command again.