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Streaming Services Blocked

StephenBurton

"Reopening" this thread since it is a ongoing issue. As others have already experienced, I'm running into the same streaming issues. Netflix, PluralSite, and other streaming services won't work on AppleTV, Wii, Samsung Smart TVs, Apple iPad, and Apple iPhones but does through a web browser. Also, audio streams won't stream properly (constantly restart) and PlayStation updates won't download properly (get 175% download messages before throwing an error).  Lastly, I cannot login to some banking websites and have difficulties with content downloading on other reputable sites.

So, as others have, I created a profile which filters based off of MAC address and has malware scanning and web scanning is turned off - so essentially everything that you want in a modern security appliance turned off. Most of the systems began to work, but Netflix on the Wii still does not work (streams get to 100% but never start. I also tried the Netflix filters used on the UTM but as other have experience this does not work on the XG).

Also as others have experienced, no useful log files are created as to what it getting blocked, either Malware or web filtering of any type kills any stream (even simple filters such as blocking webmail will kill a stream - seems to be a issue with the scan engine itself and nothing to do with the content.) 

Obviously this is a serious issue that needs to be addressed as I can purchase a $50 firewall from Walmart that will work better than the XG currently is. Don't get me wrong, I'm a Sophos fan, but this has been an ongoing problem for way too long. What's the plan for this to be fixed? My definition of "fixed" is the ability to have malware scanning and web filtering enabled on devices that stream content. It needs to work this way because a large number of devices stream content and disabling malware scanning and/or web filtering is not on option. 

Has anyone else had better luck with streaming content on the XG with security enabled? I'd like to move back to the UTM firewall, however streaming doesn't work that well on that platform either. 



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  • 0 in reply to TimGrantham
    Thanks TimGrantham for including the link. I did know about this workaround and tried it on the XG which didn't work. But the deeper question is why you would even need to add such an exception. Streaming data is very common and shouldn't require a work around. As well, adding these exceptions to a device then opens that device up to other vulnerabilities. For example, an iPad could have that exception but then, is open to malware with other apps and no web filtering would be enabled. This is not a good solution for an enterprise level, next gen firewall.
  • 0 in reply to StephenBurton
    Stephen,

    That's a very good question, the only thing I can think of is the way that the AntiVirus scanner is working causes interference to the AppleCoreMedia protocol - for example, ACM will be requesting the data in segments (IIRC), the AV scanner will see this as downloaded files and try to scan it, which will cause a delay and cause the iPad, AppleTV etc to fail streaming.

    There is also an issue with streaming to mobile devices MP4 video, and I've found that I've needed to add another exception.

    This will only effect antivirus scanning, the rest of the functions that the firewall provides are unaffected.

    Also keep in mind that these $50 firewalls are normally just a NAT based firewall, they don't have any IPS, UDP&TCP flood protection, anti-portscan etc.

    For the time being, I've rolled back to a UTM 9.x based solution at home, XG just had too many inconsistencies for me to warrant it as a viable solution, I have no doubt that in the future it will be a great product, just not at this current moment in time, and I suspect that once they have released the migration told from UTM 9 to XG, we will see this as a good product.

    I don't even think that XG is EAL 4+ yet, where as UTM 9 is - for me, selling this product hasn't been viable as most businesses I recommend this product to have a requirement for it to be EAL 4+.