We have just released the latest version of our core web filtering appliance - version 2.0.10 of the R3000. General availability of the patch is set for January 7th, but you can contact Tech Support and request it today if you like. We’re going GA after the Holidays to reduce the load on Tech Support, which always sees a spike in activity after a major patch release (despite our best efforts).

There is lots of great stuff in this release. However, in this post I’m going to focus on the changes that affect how we handle proxies: improvements in our HTTPS filtering and pattern-based blocking. I’m going to cover:

• Block page on a pattern block
• New options that enhance HTTPS Medium and tame HTTPS High
• Whitelist feature for pattern detection

Let’s take a look at the details.

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I am often asked about IPv6, especially as it relates to the 8e6 product line. For those that are unfamiliar with IPv6, it’s a new IP protocol that will replace the current IPv4 protocol at some point in the future. The major driver for the transition to IPv6 is the total number of available IP Addresses. With the current IPv4 protocol the total number of IP addresses available is 4,294,967,296 (2³²).

When IPv4 was originally envisioned the primary users of IP Addresses were research facilities and governments. As more business joined the online community, they of course needed IP Addresses as well. In the 90s there was an explosion in the number of IP Addresses allocated to home users for Internet access from home computers. Now we are seeing more devices using IP Addresses. Cell Phones, wireless e-Books, and wireless MP3 players are now using IP Addresses in order to communicate online.

The problem is that at some point in the future we will simply run out of available IPv4 Addresses. IPv6 on the other hand supports 2¹²⁸ (about 3.4×10³⁸) or (3.4 times 10 with 38 zeros following.) That would leave approximately 5×10²⁸ IP addresses for each and every person alive on our planet today. Needless to say, that’s a lot of addresses.

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Just like any normal Myspace user, I tend to browse my friends bulletins to see if there is anything of interest that might catch my eye. A Myspace bulletin is like an announcement message, it gets posted to all of your friends bulletin boards for them to see. So, a few days ago, I came across a bulletin from my Myspace “friend” and digg.com founder, Kevin Rose. (I don’t know Kevin, he’s my “friend” in the loosely connected, easily created Myspace way.)

The URL in the bulletin from Kevin takes you to hxxp://stalkertrack.com.

It’s highly unlikely that Kevin intended to send this bulletin. It should be noted that this was not an isolated incident.

This piqued my interest, so I decided to “digg” a little deeper to find out why a few web-savvy folks would openly give out their login credentials to a service that is not promoted or supported by Myspace itself, and is even actively discredited by the Myspace founders.

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