Create a content rule

If you use role-based administration:

  • You must have the Data control customization right to create or edit data control rules and Content Control Lists.
  • You must have the Policy setting - data control right to set up data control policies.
  • You can't edit a policy if it is applied outside your active sub-estate.

For more information, see Managing roles and sub-estates.

For an overview of content rules and Content Control Lists, see About data control rules.

To create a content rule and add it to a data control policy:

  1. Check which data control policy is used by the group or groups of computers you want to configure.

    See Check which policies a group uses.

    Alternatively, you can create a rule from the Tools menu and add it to a policy or policies later. On the Tools menu, point to Manage Data Control, and then click Data control rules and perform steps 4 to 13.

  2. In the Policies pane, double-click Data control. Then double-click the policy you want to change.
  3. In the Data control policy dialog box, on the Policy Rules tab, make sure the Enable data control scanning check box is selected and click Manage Rules.
  4. In the Data Control Rule Management dialog box, click the Add Content Rule button.
  5. In the Create a Content Rule dialog box, under Rule name, type a name for the rule.
  6. Under Rule description (optional), enter the rule’s description, if you wish.
  7. Under Select the rule's conditions, the file content and destination conditions are already selected. You must set up both conditions for a content rule.
  8. Under Select the action to take if the rule is matched, select the action.
  9. If you want to exclude some files from data control scanning, under Select files to exclude, select the Where file name matches or Where the file type is check box.
  10. Under Rule content, click the “select file content” underlined value.
  11. In the Content Control List Management dialog box, select the Content Control Lists you want to include in the rule.
    • If you want to add SophosLabs Content Control Lists, select one for each country you need.
      Tip Do not select a global Content Control List if you do not need support for all countries. Instead, select Content Control Lists only for the countries you need. This can significantly reduce scanning time as well as reduce the risk of unwanted, coincidental matches.
    • If you want to create a new Content Control List, see Create or edit a simple Content Control List or Create or edit an advanced Content Control List.
    1. Click OK.
  12. If you want to change quantity assigned to a SophosLabs Content Control List, under Rule content, click the “quantity” underlined value (“n or more matches”) that you want to change. In the Quantity editor dialog box, enter a new quantity. For more information, see About Content Control Lists.
  13. Under Rule content, select or enter conditions for the rest of the underlined values.

    Content rule
    1. Click OK.
    The new rule appears in the Data Control Rule Management dialog box.
  14. To add the rule to the policy, select the check box next to the rule’ name and click OK.
    The rule is added to the data control policy.

You can set up alerts and messages that will be sent to the user when a rule in the data control policy is matched. See Set up data control alerts and messages.