With the internet, in all its glory, playing host to over 1.8 billion websites that can be accessed by virtually anyone in the world, it stands to reason that businesses may not want users accessing some of these websites due to security threats, inappropriateness, or other factors while on their network. How can businesses control what websites their users gain access to? Typically, most organizations have utilized a blacklist, which identifies websites that users are not allowed to access. This method is not very restrictive and can be problematic in that it allows access to everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING, that is not on the blacklist. A whitelist, as you might guess, is the exact opposite of a blacklist, and only grants access to websites explicitly identified on the list. If the site isn’t on the list, then the user isn’t granted access to it. The concept of a whitelist has been around for many years in website filtering but has seldom been implemented. It can also be problematic because, given the breadth and depth of the internet, only a fraction of the available websites would be allowed.
Working with clients on a daily basis, I’m often asked my opinion of “The Cloud”. Having been a consultant in the technology industry for 23 years I’ve seen a lot, from Mainframe to today’s Hybrid Cloud Management platforms. When I first started, I was fixing Apple Macintosh computers and their 40 MB hard drives and HP LaserJet III (PC Load Letter anyone?) printers. I personally was the proud owner of a 486/50 PC and the first Pentium 60 MHz were just starting to hit the market. I believe that when they hit the market they literally “hit” something like a tree because that first month I replaced a lot of them. Most local area networks were comprised of Ethernet hubs and heaven help us “ARCnet.” Computing infrastructure was still very heavy with Mainframes and AS/400’s and as a result highly centralized. If you wanted to manage your systems, you pretty much had to physically be in your data center on a terminal or computer with a terminal emulator.
