Technical data

Check Point VSX Administration Guide NGX R67 | 126
Chapter 7
Working with URL Filtering
In This Chapter
Introduction 126
Configuring URL Filtering 127
Introduction
Access to the Internet can expose your organization to a variety of security threats and negatively affect
employee productivity as a result of non-work-related surfing and downloading of files. Due to problems
associated with employee web surfing, organizations are turning to Web Filtering to control employee
Internet access, reduce legal liability and improve organizational security. Web Filtering enforces filtering
rules based on the organization’s needs and predefined categories made up of URLs and patterns of URLs.
Web Filtering includes reporting and monitoring tools that capture and present web traffic data, providing
organizations with an in-depth look at how web surfing affects their organization’s security and supports
decisions regarding web surfing limitations.
A web filter is a function that screens incoming web pages to determine whether or not to display their web
content. The web filter verifies the web page URL against a list of approved sites and blocks access to
complete sites or pages within sites that contain objectionable material (for example, pornography, illegal
software and spyware).
Terminology
The following terms are used in Web Filtering applications:
 Allow List: A list of allowed URL addresses, for example, a URL in the Allow List is allowed even if it is
associated with a category that is blocked.
 Block List: A list of blocked URL addresses, for example, a URL in the Block List is blocked even if it is
associated with a category that is not blocked.
 Blocking Notifications: Contains the message that appears when a URL address is blocked and the
URL to which a blocked URL address is redirected.
 Category: Contains a group of topics sharing a common attribute (for example, crime, education and
games.
 Network Exceptions: Contains a list of connections for which Web Filtering should not be enforced.
 Web Filter: Allows you to allow or block URLs based on network connections and/or an external
categorized database and local exception lists.
Functional Overview
When incoming Web traffic arrives at a gateway on which Web Filtering is active, it first applies the general
security policy rules. Traffic allowed by these rules is then inspected for permitted URLs and/or IP
addresses.
The Web filtering engine inspects incoming requests and assigns one or more filter categories according to
information contained in the Content Inspection database. The Content Inspection database is updated
periodically to ensure accurate category assignment.