Lesson 7: Managing URLs by category

Learn how category filters are used in policy enforcement, and then create and edit a custom category filter.

Category filters determine how user requests for HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and Gopher sites are treated.

Each website is identified by a unique IP address or URL. The Forcepoint URL Database assigns these addresses to categories, such as Adult Material, Education, or Spyware.

Within a category filter, an action, such as Permit or Block, is assigned to each category. Every site within the category is managed according to the action that you assign.

Your software includes several category filters and templates to help you get started. You can edit the filters to suit the needs of your organization, but the templates cannot be changed. When you create a new filter, you can base it on either a template or an existing category filter.

To understand how category filters work, imagine that certain users in your organization should only have access to websites affiliated with educational institutions. Complete the following exercises to create a filter for these users.

Exercise 1: Create an Education-Only category filter

  1. Go to the Policy Management > Filters page.
  2. In the Category Filters box, click Add. The Add Category Filter page appears.
  3. Enter Education-Only as the name of the new category filter.
  4. Create a description for the filter (for example, “For student research assistants, permits access only to sites in the Education category”).
  5. Select the Block All template to use as the foundation for the new filter.
  6. Click OK to cache changes and open the Edit Category Filter page. The new filter name appears at the top of the page.

You will customize the filter in Exercise 2.

Exercise 2: Modify the Education-Only category filter

  1. Select Education in the Categories tree, and then click Permit. The Permit button appears to the right of the Categories tree.
  2. Expand the Education node. Note that the Education subcategories are still blocked.
  3. With the Education parent category still selected, click Apply to Subcategories. All of the Education subcategories (Cultural Institutions, Educational Institutions, and so on) are permitted.
  4. Click OK to cache your changes and return to the Filters page.
  5. Click Save and Deploy to implement your changes.

Once you have created custom category filters, you can add them to policies and apply them to clients.