This article applies to organisations with a 'Hybrid' setup (both On-Premise Appliance and Cloud), as well as On-Premise only and Cloud only setups.
You can use the Smoothwall to prevent users from accessing inappropriate content through search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, Bing or Ask. There are several ways to achieve this:
- Search Term Filtering: Words or phrases entered into search engines are analysed and categorised. These can be reported on or blocked: Search term filtering to block words or phrases from search results.
- SafeSearch: Most major search engines have an optional SafeSearch feature. You can enforce this feature by applying a Content Modification policy (shown below).
- Block Search Suggestions: You can switch off search suggestions to prevent any content from being suggested (shown below).
SafeSearch Content Modification
You can enforce SafeSearch in two ways:
- Force SafeSearch ensures that SafeSearch is applied across most major search engines. This option is recommended when using HTTPS Inspection.
- SafeSearch via CONNECT header: If you can’t use HTTPS Inspection, this option enforces SafeSearch for Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing, Brave, Ecosia and Pixabay.
Note
You can only apply these Content Modifications using the On-Premise Appliance. In a Hybrid setup (both Cloud and On-Premise Appliance), you can manage these policies using the On-Premise Appliance or in Cloud Filter once you switch over.
Step 1: Set up HTTPS Inspection
- If you will use the SafeSearch via CONNECT header option, skip this step.
- If you will use the Force SafeSearch option, ensure you have a HTTPS Inspection Policy to Decrypt and Inspect the Everything category. If this is not possible, use the Search Engines category.
Step 2: Create a Content Modification policy
Create a content modification policy.
- On-Premise Appliance:
- Set What to Everything, and Apply Force SafeSearch as the Action.
- Set What to Everything, and Apply SafeSearch via CONNECT header, as the Action.
- Cloud Filter: Go to the Safe Search tab, toggle either Force SafeSearch or SafeSearch via CONNECT header to On, and configure the fields.
Block Search Suggestions
Some search engines show suggestions based on the characters entered, which may not match the user's intent. Inappropriate content can be suggested, which can cause this search session to be flagged in Safeguarding Reports.
You can remove the Search Suggestions functionality from appearing under the search bar. Set up a Web Filter policy with Search Suggestions in the What field, and Block as the Action.