[KB7972] Enable, create, and edit Web control rules in ESET business products using ESET PROTECT On-Prem

Issue

Required user permissions

This article assumes that you have the appropriate access rights and permissions to perform the tasks below.

If you use the default Administrator user or are unable to perform the tasks below (the option is unavailable), create a second administrator user with all access rights.

Details


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Web control allows you to block web pages that may contain potentially offensive material. It also enables employers or system administrators to prohibit access to 27 pre-defined website categories and over 140 subcategories.

Web control is used primarily for regulating web content that can be accessed by client workstations in a company network. The goal of Web control is to prevent users from accessing pages with inappropriate or harmful content, or pages that may have a negative impact on work productivity. This is achieved by filtering specific URLs, or pre-defined categories, including legal liability sites, pornography, sites that violate intellectual property rights, or sites that may impact a company's IT infrastructure.

See Web Control in the ESET Endpoint Security User Guide for more information on this feature.


Solution

Enable and edit Web control

 Endpoint users: Perform these steps on individual client workstations

  1. Open ESET PROTECT On-Prem in your web browser and log in.

  2. Click Policies and select the Built-in policy that you want to modify. Select the check box next to the policy for client computers to which you want to apply Web control and click ActionsEdit.

    Figure 1-1
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  3. Click SettingsWeb and Email → Web control and then click the toggle next to Enable Web control to enable it.

    Figure 1-2
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  4. Click Edit next to either Rules, Category groups, or URL groups to modify the setting. See the sections below for a description of each setting and how to use it.

    Figure 1-3
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Manage Web control Rules

Manage the rules for a specific URL or category of web content.

Rules priority

Rules are sorted according to their priority, with higher priority rules on top. Rules based on a URL always have higher priority than rules based on a category. For example, if a rule based on a URL is listed under a rule based on a category in the rules list, the URL-based rule has higher priority and will be evaluated first.

  1. Click Edit next to Rules (see Step 4 of Section 1) to open a dialog and click Add to create a new rule.

    Figure 2-1
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The following settings are available in the Add rule dialog:

    • Name: The name of the rule, used for editing in ESET PROTECT On-Prem.
    • Enabled: Click the toggle to enable or disable the rule.
    • Type: Set the rule to act on a URL or a category of web content.
    • Access rights: Set the permitted access rights for this content to Allow, Warn or Block to have your ESET business product take the corresponding action when the specified content is accessed.
    • Apply during: Set when the rule will be applied.
    • URL or URL Group: Type the URL or use the drop-down menu to specify the target for this rule.
    • Use URL Group: You can define groups of URLs to filter more web content using a single rule. Click to toggle URL Group instead of a single URL.
    • Logging severity: Select the level of severity required for the logs to record when this rule is activated.
      Logging severity set to Warning

      Logging severity must be set to Warning for ESET PROTECT On-Prem to log Web control rules. You can create a new ESET PROTECT On-Prem Dashboard report for blocked URLs.

    • User list: Specify the users to whom this rule applies
  1. Click OK when you are finished changing the Rules settings.
    Figure 2-2
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Manage Web control Category groups

Category groups allow you to group multiple URLs and URL categories together so you can target all of them using a single rule.

  1. Click Edit next to Category groups (see Step 4 of Section 1) to open a dialog window and click Add to create a new category group. Type a name for the new category group and click OK.

    Figure 3-1
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  2. Click the group in the Groups section on the left side of the window. Select the check boxes next to a given category to select it and all its sub-categories (in this example, Adult Materials category is selected). Also, you can expand the category to display its sub-categories that can be selected by clicking their corresponding check boxes (in this example, Tobacco sub-category is selected in the Alcohol and Tobacco category). Click Save when you are finished selecting Category groups.

    Figure 3-2
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Manage Web control URL groups

URL groups allow you to group multiple blocked URLs and URL categories together so you can target all of them using a single rule.

  1. Click Edit next to URL groups (see Step 4 of Section 1) to open a dialog window and then click Add to create a new URL group. Type a name for the new URL group and click OK.

    Figure 4-1
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  2. Select the URL group and click Add on the right side of the window.

    Figure 4-2
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  3. Type a URL that you want to include in your new URL group. You can also click Enter multiple values in the bottom left corner to add more URLs at once. Type your URLs in the new dialog window. You can click the drop-down menu next to Separator for multiple values and select the way how the URLs will be separated from each other: New line (pre-selected), Comma, or Semicolon. Click OK when you are finished adding URLs.

    Figure 4-3
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  4. Click Save to save your changes for URL groups.

    Figure 4-4
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Add Blocked webpage message and Blocked webpage graphic

You can add a blocked webpage text message and graphics to the blocked webpage text message which will be displayed when a client computer attempts to access blocked content.

Type a message that you want to display in the Blocked webpage message field. Type a URL for the graphic in the Blocked webpage graphic field to display a graphic with your blocked content message. Click Finish to save your changes.

Figure 5-1
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