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Our company wishes to block all online mmorpg and other such games. I really don't want to block ports as sometimes some of the ports are used by our programmers testing our those ports. Our company uses a Draytek 2820 modem and it can block ip ranges too.
Where can I find such a list? And if simply using IP's is a bad idea what is the best way to block MMORPG's?
JohnRoach
Posted 2012-09-07T09:15:06.170
Reputation: 149
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Another option would be if you have corporate antivirus/spyware software, check to see if yours supports blocking of programs. Many of them have the ability to block common games built in.
However, it sounds like you are trying to solve the wrong problem. The problem isnt preventing people from playing games, its that they have the ability to play games on their work computers. The PCs should be locked down preventing them from installing the games in the first place.
Keltari
Posted 2012-09-07T09:15:06.170
Reputation: 57 019
Sadly locking down the PC's is not a viable solution as they have to have Admin rights. – JohnRoach – 2012-09-07T21:43:42.370
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You mentioned that these are programmers and that ports needed to be opened for testing by them, so the chances are that they need full (administrator) access to their machines to do the development. Hence a technical solution is probably not possible by locking down the PCs.
Also there are so many games sites that you probably can't block all of them and, if they are decent programmers and really want to play, they can just set up a proxy relay on another machine anyway. You'v already said that port blocking isn't viable.
It comes back to the social problem of simply asking them not to do it.
Of course, if they are exceeding targets/deadlines then letting them have a bit of free time to play shouldn't be a problem.
StarNamer
Posted 2012-09-07T09:15:06.170
Reputation: 915
Yes I know... Hence the reason I'm looking for a cheap way to block the online games. – JohnRoach – 2012-09-07T21:44:46.080
Would you not be better to block all and just open the ports that you do need or is this not possible? – Dave – 2012-09-07T09:17:38.917
@DaveRook as I have said that is not really possible as very often I find out that I have to unblock a port. After a while it becomes a hastle. And many of the ports they use are same with the game ports. – JohnRoach – 2012-09-07T09:21:08.610
I would review the Draytek's content filtering "Block Peer-to-Peer (P2P) software such as BitTorrent, to avoid users using vast amounts of your bandwidth or engaging in media piracy." If necessary, contact Draytek. They used to have a good reputation for support.
– RedGrittyBrick – 2012-09-07T09:25:31.963OK - the reason I say this is, many games (and programs like Skype) are not based upon port per-se. Skype for example will always look for the next available port (which is why it is such a headache to block). – Dave – 2012-09-07T09:26:10.393
@RedGrittyBrick I have already blocked P2P but the boss also wants games to be blocked. – JohnRoach – 2012-09-07T09:27:39.087
1I would try talking to the employees. Simply as it is a no go to play while working. – Baarn – 2012-09-07T09:29:12.997
The boss can a) allocate a budget for hardware & services to implement this, b) issue a notice to all staff that using MMORPG in the workplace is not allowed, the network will be monitored for such activity and offenders subject to disciplinary action. – RedGrittyBrick – 2012-09-07T09:31:59.893
@RedGrittyBrick a and b sadly can not be implemented due to several in office political and budgetary reasons. – JohnRoach – 2012-09-07T09:36:12.803
@Informaficker sadly talking has not been enough. – JohnRoach – 2012-09-07T09:36:29.823
2If there is a bunch of IT guys, do you think blocking will stop them? They will only be pissed off and spend the same time gaming and some more time circumventing your measures. – Baarn – 2012-09-07T09:37:04.080
@Informaficker Circumventing could be done in any case. Even if we bought the most advanced system. I can't argue with you on that. That being said, we need a quick and dirty solution. – JohnRoach – 2012-09-07T09:44:24.043
If you have static IP addresses, on the Draytek you can setup different security policies for different IP ranges, so you can place all of the developers together in the IP range, than put that range in a security group where the ports are not blocked, and have them blocked for the rest! – JMK – 2012-09-07T10:15:28.993
1Seems like you're on a loosing battle here JohnRoach - if the company policy doesn't discipline people taking the p*** then you're going to have a tough time; all you'll do is find a work around which will be exploited to then need to find another work around (and so the loop continues)... – Dave – 2012-09-07T13:26:26.797
1I'm not very experienced, but could you change the networking settings to introduce a very high latency so that general internet use is fine but the lag would be too great for online gaming? – Ben Richards – 2012-09-07T17:18:28.380
@sidran32, I don't know if that's possible, but a neat idea. Don't block it, just make it much less fun lol. – JoshP – 2012-09-07T17:59:56.247
@Josh I think it should be. I know many firmwares let you modify the settings at that level. I just never tried it and without knowledge of what they use their network for, I can't make any specific settings recommendations anyways. – Ben Richards – 2012-09-07T18:24:22.460
@Josh monkeying around with firmware... I'm all for it provided if you can show me resource in which that kind of thing was implemented on a Draytek firewall. – JohnRoach – 2012-09-07T21:42:35.757