POLICIES
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      2. PROTECTION: Set up your data protection
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      Website policies: How to block access to selected websites

      Safetica can block access to certain websites. This helps you mitigate potential threats from dangerous webs and block data leaks.

      In this article, you will learn about:

       

      Introduction: What are website policies

      Website policies can be used to control website access on protected devices.

      🍏macOS devices: Website visits can be audited and controlled by policies only on Safari and Chrome browsers.

      Learn more about the differences in features between Windows and macOS here.

       

      How to create a policy that blocks specific websites

      To create website-blocking policies in Safetica, follow these steps:

      ✍️Policies in Safetica are evaluated from the top of the list based on this evaluation system. 

      1. Go to Policies > Websites and click Add policy.
      2. Enter the name of the policy.
      3. In the Action section, choose what will happen. The policy may be either blocking or allowing (the allow action is useful for creating exceptions).
      4. Click Add websites to add the websites you want to control. You can select a website category or individual website(s). 
      5. You can also enable Advanced control of individual websites and set up a different action for each website.
      6. If you enable Advanced control of individual websites, you can change the order of websites in the list. This lets you create more complex scenarios. For instance, you can block visits to the Job search category, but make an exception for one website from the category (e.g. LinkedIn):
      7. Select users or teams to whom the policy will apply. You can either enter their names directly into the search bar or add them via the user tree by clicking the List of users link.
      8. Switch the Policy status to Enabled.
      9. Save the policy. It will be added to the top of the policy list. 
      10. Drag-and-drop the policy to its correct position in the list.

       

      What happens when a user visits a blocked webpage

      If a user tries to visit a blocked webpage, a default information page loads instead.

      You can also set up a custom URL to which the user will be redirected:

      1. Go to Settings > General.
      2. Enter the address to the Custom URL for blocked websites field.

      ❗Safetica Client evaluates and records the category of a website when it's first visited.

      When a user visits a website from a blocked category for the first time, it may not be immediately blocked since its category hasn't been identified yet. Subsequent attempts to access the website will be appropriately blocked.

      This functionality is intentional and part of the system's design.

       

      How to find records of blocked websites

      Records of blocked website visits can be found in the Websites section in the Blocked activity tab.

       

      Recommended website categories to block

      We generally recommend blocking dangerous website categories like Illegal, Malware, Pornography, and Proxy web.  

      ✍️Creating exceptions for specific users/teams: Should you need to create exceptions for certain users or teams, simply create a policy applied to them and place it above the general company-wide policy. For example, you could restrict access to social media for everyone but make an exception to permit access exclusively for the Marketing department.