Response summary: IKiosk & Fortres for PC security
Miriam Bobkoff
mbobkoff at ci.santa-fe.nm.us
Fri Dec 13 17:52:15 EST 1996
Twenty-odd libraries responded to our question about choosing between IKiosk
and Fortres.
8 libraries said they use both
5 libraries said they use Fortres
4 libraries said they use IKiosk
4 libraries mentioned other products
(Foolproof from Smartstuff Software. http://www.smartstuff.com)
(Flute, a Windows macro program)
(Stoplight ELS)
(WIN-U)
The real headline news is that it is so easy to get a flood of advice from
colleagues. Thank you all very much.
Extracts from some of your replies are attached below.
Miriam Bobkoff mbobkoff at ci.santa-fe.nm.us
Reference Librarian & Library Automation Systems Manager
Santa Fe Public Library
145 Washington Avenue personal: mbobkoff at rt66.com
Santa Fe, NM 87501 http://www.rt66.com/~mbobkoff/
(505)984-6832
*******************************************************************
*******************************************************************
From: Bruce Heimburger <brh at agrl.lib.sc.us>
Subject: Re: fortres or ikiosk
These two products do somewhat different things. Fortres is best at locking
down the Windows desktop and the OS. Ikiosk works best to deny
access to user specified menu options. Ikiosk could also be used to deny
acdess to some items on the desktop but it I wouldn't recommend it for such
purposes. However, it will not, to my knowledge eliminate access to the
'Start' button. You probably need to use both programs.
==========
Bruce Heimburger, Technologies Administrator
Richland Co. Public Library phone 803-929-3406
Columbia, SC 29201-3101 fax 803-929-3439
============================================================================
From: Marlene Moulton Janssen <mmj at cloudnet.com>
Subject: security for Netscape
Your recent post on Web4lib asked which security program public libraries
were using--Fortres or Ikiosk. At GRRL, we're using both at the same time,
on the same machines. It works very well! We've been up with 8 workstations
for 3 months with no major problems.
Marlene Moulton Janssen
Great River Regional Library
405 St. Germain, St. Cloud, MN 56301
Voice: 320-251-7282, Fax: 320-251-0582
============================================================================
From: kjustie at nslsilus.org (Kevin Justie)
Subject: Re: fortres or ikiosk ?
We use, and are very pleased with, both. We've used Fortres since our
terminals went out last April (and on a general use public PC for six
months before that), and IKiosk for about a month, when we switched from
Netscape 1 to 2. The two products are completely different, though. They
protect totally different things. Fortres protects the PC by blocking all
sorts of Windows functions and locking up .exe, .ini, etc. files, while
IKiosk blocks potentially disruptive Netscape menu options. I can't say for
sure, but I think a free beta of IKiosk is still available so there's no
(good) reason not to use both. The third security-related program you might
want to consider is Flute, a Windows macro program. You can search the
Web4Lib archives to find the link to a download site as well as a macro that
automatically times out Netscape to your home page (or any page), and it has
a line to completely hide the Program Manager so a user can't even ALT-TAB
to it. The combination of these three programs has given us virtually
problem-free Internet PCs.
Kevin Justie
Head of Technical and Automated Services
Morton Grove Public Library
Morton Grove, IL
(847) 965-4220
kjustie at mgk.nslsilus.org
http://www.nslsilus.org/mgkhome/
================================================================================
From: hzz000 at mail.connect.more.net (Linda Cannon)
Subject: Re: fortres or ikiosk ?
We are using Fortres and a beta version of Ikiosk. They do different
things. Ikiosk keeps people from changing preferences, etc., while Fortres
is a more general application which protects your machine from hackers and
people who want to change the underlying DOS or Windows stuff. We only have
the beta Ikiosk, though, so maybe the full-fledged version does more. I
understand that Ikiosk is about $25 per station, while I know that Fortres
is $295 for a site
license, irrespective of how many machines you have. For that price, maybe
you can convince the MIS dept. that you need both. I hope people who are
more knowledgable about Ikiosk will respond to you. If you have particular
questions about Fortres, I might be able to answer those. We do find,
though, that a combination of the two programs works best for us. Good luck.
Linda Cannon email hzz000 at mail.connect.more.net
300 Main St. Voice 417-623-7953 Fax 417-624-5217
Joplin, MO 64801-2384 Systems Librarian, Joplin Public Library
================================================================================
From: Phil Meyer <phil at ecrl.lib.mn.us>
Subject: Re: fortres or ikiosk ?
You want to use both. Fortres does a great job of protecting the hard drive
and the computer's configuration files. Ikiosk is a utility that lets you
take a program (like netscape) and disable any of its internal menu options.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Phil Meyer Phone: 612 689 7390
Systems Librarian Fax: 612 689 7389
East Central Regional Library
244 S. Birch St. Email: phil at ecrl.lib.mn.us
Cambridge, MN 55008
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
================================================================================
From: Bill Moseley <moseley at netcom.com>
Subject: Re: fortres or ikiosk ?
Windows 3.1 or Windows 95? How much money do you have to spend? And why
limit yourself to Fortres. Fortres is a good program, but just because it
is so well known doesn't means it is the best.
Last I looked IKIOSK and Fortres do different things. IKIOSK will lock
Netscape and Fortres is to protect the Windows.
My feeling is in Win 3.1 you probably don't need Fortres or any other
security program. Windows is easy to lock down. But it depends on what you
allow Netscape to do. If you don't allow downloading then you shouldn't
need a security program.
Good luck,
Bill Moseley
mailto:moseley at netcom.com
================================================================================
From: Chuck Bearden <cbearden at sparc.hpl.lib.tx.us>
Subject: RE: fortres or ikiosk ?
These two programs do different things. IKIOSK will let you disble menu
options, dialog boxes, and right-clicks in selected applications. Unless
you use it to disable all Open & Save dialog boxes as well as right-clicks,
your hard drives will still be vulerable. IKIOSK alone *might* do if you
don't want to let people FTP files to floppy for personal use *and* if you
use some other means (incl. registry & MSDOS.SYS changes in Win95) to
protect the interface.
And Fortres won't keep users from activating mail and news clients in
Netscape to send mail. It won't prevent users from changing Netscape's
settings to their hearts' content.
Fortres protects the hard drive and defangs the interface. IKIOSK makes
individual applications safe. You have to find some way to do both things.
Hyper Technologies does have plans for some form of HD protection to work
with IKIOSK, so there will be more options. Also, StopLight ELS has some
real virtue as a HD protection program.
Chuck
-------------------------------------------------------------
Chuck Bearden email: cbearden at hpl.lib.tx.us
Catalog Department voice: 713/247-3499
Houston Public Library fax: 713/247-3158
500 McKinney Ave.
Houston, TX 77002 -=> NOT SPEAKING FOR HPL <=-
-------------------------------------------------------------
-=>HPL's Homepage: http://sparc.hpl.lib.tx.us<=-
================================================================================
From: Steve Hooley! <hooleyss at gsaix2.cc.GaSoU.EDU>
Subject: Re: fortres or ikiosk ?
At Henderson Library we are confronted with a group of bored,
computer-savvy students with too much time on their hands. Keeping these
birds from breaking to DOS and installing Duke Nukem is one of our biggest
headaches. Fortres.101 is part of our arsenal and we use it to keep students
restricted to Windows. Basically, we use a freeware called kb_off to
deactivate the keyboard during the autoexec routine and kb_on as the machine
logs onto the server. This rolls on into Windows. Fortres is told to
disable Exit, Run, Add/Delete Groups, Control Panel, etc. and to protect
against overwrite files ending in .BAT and .EXE. Windows is then modified
by adding
a section at the end of Progman.ini like this:
[Restrictions]
::NoRun=1
::NoSaveSettings=1
::NoFileMenu=1
::EditLevel=4
When the double-colons (::) are removed, this produces a modified version
of Windows (restore :: to use Fortres). You may prefer the simpler kiosk
mode produced by invoking netscape -k. We added an extra layer of
user-friendliness by having a hidden directory copy over netscape.ini,
bookmarks.htm and progman.ini and win.ini with our preferred version. Make
autoexec.bat and config.sys read-only ( attrib <filename> +r).
We then found the little geniuses using the Windows for workgroups deluxe
Task Manager to run applications, as well as the WordPerfect 6.1 File
options to un-attrib then change autoexec.bat. WP 6.1 can be neutered by BIF
editing -we did that and removed the task manager. Next they configured
Netscape's Options to launch Duke Nukem as the helper application to read
.pdf or .zip files. Well, our hidden directory fixes that before the next
customer but as you may find yourself game install programs can do funny
things to your machine. Be sure to keep an ideal 'image' or contents of a
whole good machine on tape or on the server; if hacked just format c: and
re-copy. Haven't tried IKIOSK and would be interested in that part of your
Poll of Straw.
============ Stephen S. Hooley ================
========= Henderson Library Computers =========
======== Georgia Southern University =========
======== Statesboro, Ga 30460 =========
======== hooleyss at gsaix2.cc.gasou.edu =========
===============================================
================================================================================
From: Mike_Poulin <MPOULIN at liber.ithaca.edu>
Subject: security
You might also want to take a look at Foolproof from Smartstuff Software.
http://www.smartstuff.com
We have been very pleased with it on our macs and I have heard it works
well on pc's. They have quite an attractive site licensing program so the
costs are much less than the software you mentioned.
Mike Poulin
Systems Librarian
Ithaca College Library
mpoulin at liber.ithaca.edu
607-274-1892
===============================================================================
From: Rich Harrington <rharrington at jjhill.org>
Subject: Re: fortres or ikiosk ?
I've got to admit, I never got to look at Fortres 101 (it's hard to find out
about these things). I've been using Integrity IKIOSK 2.0, and have found
it very good. The official release doesn't make you "record" the actions
you want to restrict -- instead it goes through the program itself and
presents all the options to you. You can then decide whether or not to
restrict each menu, button, checkbox, and hotkey option. An additional
bonus, in my book, is that the new version comes with a module specially
designed for Netscape that turns off the little mail icon in the lower right.
Good Luck,
Rich
----------
Rich Harrington
Electronic Services Department
James J. Hill Reference Library, St. Paul, MN USA
rharrington at jjhill.org
========================================================================
From: Marshall Nielsen <mnielsen at bite.db.uth.tmc.edu>
Subject: Fortress
Miriam -
This is the second version I've used of Fortress in our Learning Resourse
Center and it's great. I can lock down the directories or the
harddrive,(watch out if you have networked printing as certain files need to
be open to spool the
print job). It's quick and easy to install, straight forward to work with
and my network services people have even come back asking to use it! It will
save you alot of headaches. Support is good also.
If you have any questions let me know.
Sincerely,
Marshall E. Nielsen
Electronic & Network Services Librarian
UT Dental Branch Library Mail-
6516 John Freeman Ave. PO Box 20068
Houston, TX 77030 Houston, TX 77225-0068
=====================================================================
From: HOL Lin Light <holight at lakeland.lib.mi.us>
Subject: Re: fortres or ikiosk ?
I have installed ikiosk on our PACs and Internet workstations and have found
it very secure. I have found it easy to install and edit/update.
I would recommend it to everyone.
[7 PACs and 4 Internet workstations]
Lin.
--------------------
Lin Light
Head of Technical and Automated Services
Herrick Public Library
300 South River Ave.
Holland, Michigan 49423 USA
voice: 616-355-1400
FAX: 616-355-1426
E-mail: llight at lakeland.lib.mi.us
=======================================================================
From: jbrown at portland.lib.me.us (Jeanne Brown)
Subject: Re: fortres or ikiosk ?
We have been using Fortres for about a year - there are a few patrons who
can get around it, but by and large, we are very happy with it. It's easy
to install, and covers all the basics nicely.
-------------------------------------
Jeanne Brown jbrown at www.portland.lib.me.us
Portland Public Library
5 Monument Square, Portland ME 04101
=======================================================================
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