Censornet - internet filtering on your terms

Filter bypass vs Custom URL module

Published in CensorNet Professional on January 21, 2010 by Administrator

Here on the tech support desk, we get a chance to remotely administer many of the customers CensorNet servers. I've been noticing recently that a lot of people are making a common mistake, so I thought I'd try to clarify it for everyone. The Filter Bypass in censornet is something which should be used only in exceptional circumstances. It is a blanket bypass, which means that any site in this, will pass through CensorNet without authentication, filtering or logging taking place. This means that any sites in the bypass are effectively invisible to CensorNet. You should add sites to the filter bypass only if:

• You are told to do so by tech support.
• If its a site you want machines to be able to connect to, without authenticating through the proxy. Examples include Anti-Virus updates and Windows updates, which may happen when there is no-one logged into the machine.
• The site contains software which does not comply with the NTLM or Transparent Kerberos Authentication mechanisms, and you trust the site.
• You have thoroughly checked the site and you want it to be allowed through with no filters or logging taking place.

For sites that you just want to allow access to because they are blocked by some part of CensorNet, you just need to add them to a custom URL category that's set to "Allow" in the user policy. Sites in the custom URL filters are logged and filtered by CensorNet as per your policy setup.