Web control policy

Note This feature is not included with all licenses. If you want to use it, you might need to change your license. For more information, see http://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/complete/comparison.aspx.

By default, the web control policy is turned off in Sophos Enterprise Console. Selecting Enable web control allows you to choose one of the following policy options:

  • Inappropriate Website Control: This basic web control option includes 14 essential site categories. It is designed to protect users from visiting websites for which your organization could be legally liable. For more information, see Inappropriate Website Control.
  • Full Web Control: This option applies a comprehensive, full-featured policy that covers more than 50 website categories. It requires a Sophos Web Appliance, Sophos Management Appliance, or Sophos UTM appliance (version 9.2 or later) to synchronize with endpoints to distribute policy updates and collect web activity data. For more information, see Full Web Control.

When using Inappropriate Website Control, you can either edit an existing web control policy, or create a new policy. For more information, see Create a policy. You can set the various site categories to “Block,” “Warn,” or “Allow.” Web control status and web events are displayed in Sophos Enterprise Console. For more information about web events, see View web events.

If, instead, you are using the Full Web Control policy, Sophos Enterprise Console requires the location of the Web, UTM, or Management Appliance from which the full web-filtering policy is configured, together with a shared key to secure communication between the appliance and Sophos Enterprise Console. When the Full Web Control policy is selected, most of the reporting and monitoring is shifted to the appliance; however, websites scanned and assessed by Sophos Endpoint Security and Control's live URL-filtering (Web protection) are displayed in Sophos Enterprise Console as web events.

For more information about web control, see the Endpoint web control overview guide.

If you use role-based administration:

  • You must have the Policy setting - web control right to edit a web control policy.
  • You cannot edit a policy if it is applied outside your active sub-estate.

For more information about role-based administration, see Managing roles and sub-estates.