Army Operational Command

The Army Operational Command tightens IT security with NetOp Netfilter

At the Danish Army Operational Command IT security must be at the very top. Therefore the Command’s IT department has used NetOp Netfilter since 2001. The filter ensures that employees do not visit homepages with contents which could be offensive or problematic in relation to the Command’s regulations without warning.

At the Army Operational Command (HOK) total IT security and decent behavior among the employees are an absolute must. Therefore, the Command’s IT department did not hesitate when, at the start of the new millennium, the Criminal Investigation Department warned against the risks involved in visiting Internet pages with criminal contents such as child pornography or pirate software.

The IT department immediately started looking for an efficient and user-friendly Internet filter which could protect employees against web pages with offensive – or in the worst case – criminal contents. They chose NetOp Netfilter from Danware A/S

”Every day we spend many hours on the Internet, and this tightens the requirements for our IT security. If we enter the grey areas of the Internet, we could be subject for increased risks of vira and other threats against our network. With NetOp Netfilter we can choose to block access to specific types of web pages, and at the same time the system provides us with a good opportunity to gain an overview of the Internet traffic,” says Erling Mathiasen, IT Administrator of the Army Operational Command.

Erling Mathiasenhas the main responsibility for all 250 IT users at HOK.

Time-limited access to blocked web pages

The number of exciting and exotic offers on the Internet has risen explosively in recent years. This has also challenged the IT Administrator of the Army Operational Command.

”Before we invested in NetOp Netfilter the employees sometimes used the Internet access to chat, download media files and visit web pages with contents which might appear offensive. These activities have now been halted efficiently as they both rob working time and can be a strain on the network,” says Erling Mathiasen of the Army Operative Command.

At HOK the management invested a lot of efforts in informing the employees about the intentions behind the initiative:

”We told our employees that the initiative benefits all of us and that it was in no way meant as a punitive action. The great majority welcomed the initiative, but there were a few who would like to preserve the possibility of downloading work-related media files. Fortunately, this is possible. Via NetOp Netfilter we can establish time-limited access to web pages otherwise blocked,” says Erling Mathiasen of the Army Operative Command.

All new employees of HOK receive a set of written guidelines, the so-called ’Permanent Regulations’, when taking up their positions. Here they are told why the access to specific Internet pages is blocked. In this way HOK eliminates any doubt as to why the internet access must only be used for work-related purposes.