Using Web Filtering function in Enterprise Cloud Portal to block websites

As an IT administrator, you can blacklist and whitelist URLs to prevent users from accessing certain websites. By setting guidelines for users' Internet browsing, your organization is protected from viruses and malicious content.

Web filtering can be done in two ways:

1. Allowing all websites and selectively blocking some (default setting, suitable for work environments)
2. Blocking all websites and selectively allowing some (custom setting, suitable for educational institutions).

Method 1: Allow access to all websites and add rules to block certain websites

By default, Puffin users are allowed to access all websites. When visiting Web filtering for the first time, the default rule ALLOW * is placed at the bottom.

How to add a new rule:

1. Navigate to Add a new filtering rule.
2. (Optional) Set the position you want to insert the rule. The default is 1, at the top.
3. Toggle the dropdown list to select ALLOW or BLOCK. When no option is selected, BLOCK takes precedence.
4. Enter the domain, hostname, or URL you want to include in the rule.
5. Click Add.
6. The rule is added. It will take effect after users relaunch Puffin Secure Browser on their device.
7. Note: For blocking rules to work properly, the rule ALLOW * must stay at the bottom of the list, indicating that it is the last rule for the web filtering service to check.

• Tip: The page includes instructions on the URL formats that Puffin Enterprise Cloud Portal supports. You can also refer to the Work with URL formats section for further details.

Approach 2: Block access to all websites and add rules to allow certain websites

In educational institutions, educators may want to only whitelist certain educational websites and block juvenile students' access to inappropriate websites. In this case, the default rule ALLOW * should be removed before the rule BLOCK *, which blocks access to all websites, can be added.

How to remove the ALLOW * rule:

1. Scroll to Add a new filtering rule.
2. Then, add a rule which whitelists a website first.
3. Toggle the dropdown list and select ALLOW.
4. Enter the domain, hostname, or URL you want to include in the rule.
5. Click Add.
6. Click the down arrow to change the order of the rule you just added.
7. The rule is now below the rule ALLOW *.
8. The Trash icon now appears next to the rule ALLOW *.
9. Click the Trash icon to delete the rule.
10. Add a rule which blocks all websites.
11. Toggle the dropdown list and select BLOCK. Enter the wildcard character * in the input field.
12. Click Add.
13. Move the rule BLOCK * to the bottom of the list.
14. You can now start adding more URLs you want to whitelist by selecting ALLOW and entering domains, hostnames, or URLs.
15. Note: For blocking rules to work properly, the rule BLOCK * must stay at the bottom of the list, indicating that it is the last rule for the web filtering service to check.

• Tip: The page includes instructions on the URL formats that Puffin Enterprise Cloud Portal supports. You can also refer to the Work with URL formats section for further details.

Please notice that Puffin Cloud Portal is only available for Business and Enterprise subscribers.