The Todyl Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) consolidates multiple network security point products into a single, easy-to-use platform. One of its key capabilities is Web Filtering, enabling organizations to fine-tune their end users’ access to the Internet. Our team recently updated Web Filtering to make it even easier to control user access with the flexibility and granularity our partners require to support their end customers.

We’ll cover a few techniques to optimize Web Filtering in your SASE instance, but first, how web filtering through SASE helps boost your online security presence.

Why SASE Web Filtering?

SASE Web Filtering lets you specify which websites users can access. Allow or deny lists are enforced across your user base and office locations through policies that can be tuned to block sites based on various criteria and categories.

Doing this helps you control which websites users can and cannot access. This approach provides several key benefits:

• Internet security: Restricting access to known and potentially malicious sites minimizes common Internet surfing security risks. It also helps reduce the impact of phishing emails or similar forms of cyberattack.
• Productivity: Controlling which sites users can access optimizes internet usage to promote productivity. Cutting out access to social media, gambling, sports, or other non-work-related websites ensures that your users only use their devices for work activities.
• Access control: Because it’s policy-driven, you can use Web Filtering to restrict user access to sensitive resources based on role and location. This helps you to promote zero trust security by enforcing access based on least privilege, minimizing potential risks of unauthorized access.

Getting started with Web Filtering

Here are a few ways to optimize your Web Filtering usage and promote Internet security across your organization.

Creating a policy

Creating a Web Filtering policy within Todyl is easy. Once you’ve clicked the button to get started and named your policy, you can start customizing. First is location-based policy, choosing which network the policy applies to.

As a part of the SASE module, Web Filtering applies across any established network within your SASE instance. This can be tailored according to specific tenants or as a global policy for all your clients to help you include or exclude distinct offices, regions, remote workers, etc.

After selecting whether the policy is Allow or Deny, you can choose which site categories it applies to.

To help you identify which categories a site may apply to, use the Domain Lookup tool to check on specific sites.

Each policy enables you to force search engines to use Safe Search to restrict the content they pull up to help limit access to questionable/explicit content even further.

Fine tune your policy

After setting up these steps, you can tailor your policy further by deciding which groups and/or users it applies to. This delivers increased flexibility and control, with the option to specify users, identity groups, and license groups within Todyl.

You can apply multiple policies concurrently, fine-tuning access control across privileged individuals and groups. This level of access control is critical to creating an adaptive Internet security approach.

Allow/Block listing

Beyond specific policies, you can use Web Filtering to establish organization-wide Allow/Block lists. When you designate a site in one of these lists, they bypass other Web Filtering policies to enable or prevent access globally. Doing so is essential for enabling access to websites that may fall under multiple categories or putting a hard block on any specific sites you do not want users to navigate to.

These lists can also be applied to specific devices, further expanding your control over users’ Internet experience.

Try Web Filtering today

Use Web Filtering to start fine-tuning your users’ access to websites to promote Internet security, productivity, and tighter access controls. Web Filtering is one of many solutions consolidated into the Todyl SASE module.

See all of SASE and the rest of the Todyl platform in action; book a demo today.