Sophos WS500 User Manual

reclassification or re-categorization of the site.The message that users see on these pages can
also be modified.
Default actions are as follows:
■
Content from sites classified as being high-risk is always blocked
■
Content from low-risk sites is always scanned
■
Content from trusted sites is always allowed
Additionally, you can set whether content from medium-risk sites is blocked or scanned and
whether content from unclassified sites is handled in the same way as content from low, medium,
or high-risk sites.
HTTPS
This security protection can be extended to HTTPS (encrypted) sites, which can also contain
security threats.You configure your Web Appliance to handle certificate validation, thus deciding
for your users about which HTTPS sites to trust.
HTTPS Scanning
To provide secure sessions between your users and commercial or banking sites, HTTPS can
encrypt web content between the website server and the user’s browser.To scan encrypted
content for malware, it must first be decrypted, then scanned, then re-encrypted for delivery to
the requesting end user’s browser. Doing this maintains the privacy of the encrypted content, as
the process takes place automatically without human eyes viewing the content.
Active Directory
The Web Appliance allows you to view lists of user groups imported from your organization’s
Active Directory server and define custom groups. On this page, you either apply the default policy
to a select list of groups, or you apply the default policy to all groups except those in the select
list.
Acceptable Use Policies
The Web Appliance protects your organization and your users from visiting sites that violate your
organization’s browsing policy, including sites that violate inappropriate browsing legislation. Site
categories can also be used to provide productivity control by disallowing access to entertainment
sites and other diversions.
Custom Policies
You can define a Special Hours policy, consisting of modified access settings that will apply to
the same set of users as the default policy, but that provides, for example, a more relaxed web
browsing policy during the lunch hour and after business hours.
You can also create as many as 80 Additional Policies, overriding the default policy and the
Special Hours policy.These can be applied to select users or groups and can also be set to take
effect only during a scheduled period. Additional policies can be turned on and off as required,
and they can be set to automatically deactivate at a specified date and time.
Sophos Web Appliance | Getting Started | 49

Sophos WS500 Specifications

General

Brand	Sophos
Model	WS500
Category	Firewall
Language	English