A Calif.-based software company Friday issued a warning for network administrators who think they have total control of content flowing in and out of their systems: Triangle Boy is alive and well...

Triangle Boy is a peer-to-peer application that users can download for free. The user connects to a Triangleboy-enabled network of computers acting as servers in a way that lets them get around nearly all Internet filtering products.

The Oakland-based SafeWeb developed the Triangle Boy software for use with its project with Voice of America in an effort to circumvent foreign governments (including Saudi Arabia, China, and the United Arab Emirates) that block free speech.

But, the platform has also become popular with companies, schools, and libraries that block user access.

One of those schools that found out the hard way about Triangle Boy was Crowley Independent School District, which is located in Crowley, Texas 15 miles south of Fort Worth.

The school of 9,200 students at seven elementary schools, two middle schools and two high schools ran a detailed test to determine if the leading filtering products would prevent users from using the rogue Triangle Boy network to get around filtering and also examined their traffic to see if any of their users were actually using Triangle Boy.

Orange, Calif.-based 8e6 Technologies helped conduct the tests.

"The results were startling," said Chad Ingram, network technician at Crowley. "The only filter we tested that stopped Triangle Boy use was the 8e6 Technologies R2000. Then, using the 8e6 Enterprise Reporter, we took a look at the logs to see if we actually had users trying to contact the Triangle Boy network. We found that in the first 48 hours, users had gone to the primary Triangle Boy Website over 30 separate times."

LATEST NEWS

Microsoft's Reliability Update Triggers Crashes
Microsoft Denies Windows 7 Tied to Battery Issues
Google Wants Chinese Look-Alike to Knock It Off
Pip.io: Not Just Another Social Network?
Google Plans to Twitterize Gmail?

Dave Salch, CTO of 8e6 Technologies, said because of its stealth nature, the P2P software does not show up in reports from many filtering products and the administrator doesn't even know the problem exists and has no way to check it.

"It seemed to be a pretty easy work around for anyone with a bit of computer savvy," said Steve Stricklin of Crowley ISD. The school said it is now adjusting its network to detect Triangle Boy and other similar applications.