Block Tor access to the web

This article applies to our On-Premise Appliance Filter and Firewall product only, not to Cloud.

 

Tor allows users to navigate the web anonymously. Users with access to Tor can bypass the Smoothwall On-Premise Appliance Filtering and access blocked content.

Follow the steps below to block Tor traffic by blocking certain ports.

 

Tip: Port 80 is also used by Tor, but Tor traffic using this port is automatically blocked by the Web Filter.

 

Step 1: Set up HTTPS Inspection

You must create a HTTPS Inspection Policy to Decrypt and Inspect for Everyone, Everything, Everywhere, Always to block Tor traffic on port 443.

Step 2: Set up a Firewall rule

Set up a Firewall rule to Drop traffic from Tor.

  1. In the Services section, select Create.
  2. In the pop up, select New service, enter a Name, select TCP as the Protocol and enter the Port number.
  3. Select Add item.
  4. Repeat the above steps for each of these ports:
    • 9000
    • 9001
    • 3443
    • 8443
    • 8080
    • 587
  5. In the Services section, select the checkboxes next to the ports and select Add to add the ports to your Firewall rule.

Note: You will see an option for Proxies > Tor in the Applications (Apps) section. Please note that checking this box has no effect.