Domain Filtering Protection Levels and Content Categories
Configure Domain Filtering in a Shield Policy — choose from five protection levels (Monitor Only, Basic Protection, Safe Browsing, High Productivity, or Custom) across 43 content categories organized into eight groups. Domain Filtering is switched on or off per policy.
Overview
Domain Filtering monitors DNS queries and can block access to domains based on 43 content categories organized into eight category groups.
Configure Domain Filtering per Shield Policy. On each policy's Domain Filtering tab, you can switch Domain Filtering on or off and select a Protection Level that determines which content categories are monitored or blocked.
When Domain Filtering is off for a policy, its Domain Filtering settings are disabled.
The Default Policy and custom Shield Policies use the same Domain Filtering settings. Refer to About Shield Policies and About the Default Policy to understand how policies apply to User Groups, Networks, and Hosts.
Domain Filtering Protection Levels
On the policy's Domain Filtering tab, a horizontal selector provides five Protection Levels:
Monitor Only
Basic Protection
Safe Browsing
High Productivity
Custom
A counter shows how many of the 43 content categories are monitored and blocked for the selected Protection Level.
The preset Protection Levels provide increasingly restrictive blocking configurations:
Protection Level | Behavior |
|---|---|
Monitor Only | Monitors DNS queries without blocking any content categories. |
Basic Protection | Monitors DNS queries and blocks the Malicious category group. |
Safe Browsing | Monitors DNS queries and blocks the Malicious, Adult Content, Aggressive Content, Alcohol, Tobacco, Illegal Drugs, and Hacking and Cracking category groups. |
High Productivity | Monitors DNS queries and blocks all eight category groups. |
Custom | Lets you choose whether to monitor or block each of the 43 content categories. |
If no categories are set to Blocked, CloudConnexa automatically changes the Protection Level to Monitor Only.
For instructions on accessing these settings, refer to Create or Edit a Shield Policy.
Customize Domain Filtering categories
Select Custom when you want to control individual content categories instead of using a predefined Protection Level.
With Custom selected, you can:
Set each of the 43 content categories to Monitored or Blocked.
Search for a content category by name.
Select Monitor All or Block All to change all categories in a group at once.
Switch between Custom and preset Protection Levels
Your category selections behave differently depending on which Protection Level you switch to:
Switch from a preset to Custom: CloudConnexa keeps the current category selections, which you can then customize.
Switch from Custom to a named preset: CloudConnexa resets your custom selections and applies the categories defined by the selected preset.
Important
Switching from Custom to Basic Protection, Safe Browsing, or High Productivity resets your custom category selections.
Content category reference
Domain Filtering classifies domains into 43 content categories organized into eight category groups. The tables in the sections below describe the types of domains included in each category.
When using Custom, you can search for individual categories by name or use Monitor All and Block All to change all categories within a group.
Adult Content
The Adult Content category group is blocked by Safe Browsing and High Productivity.
Content category | Includes | Test domain |
|---|---|---|
Pornography | Websites containing pornography or sexually explicit content intended for adults. |
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Adult | Adult-oriented websites that don't fall into another specific adult content category, including topics such as pregnancy, abortion, LGBT content, or other 18+ topics. |
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Sexuality | Websites related to sexuality and sex education. |
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Nudity | Websites with a high proportion of nudity, swimwear, underwear, or intimate apparel, including some celebrity-content websites. |
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Swimsuits and underwear | Websites related to swimsuits and underwear that may contain partial nudity. |
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Dating | Websites related to dating, which may include sexual content. |
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Hate | Websites promoting intolerance, discrimination, or violence based on identity characteristics such as gender, age, race, nationality, religion, or sexual orientation. |
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Aggressive Content
The Aggressive Content category group is blocked by Safe Browsing and High Productivity.
Content category | Includes | Test domain |
|---|---|---|
Military | Websites related to the military. |
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Weapons | Websites related to weapons, including guns, knives, and military memorabilia. |
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Contact sport | Websites related to contact sports, including martial arts, WWE, and UFC. |
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Hunting and fishing | Websites related to hunting and fishing. |
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Inappropriate | Websites related to crime, anorexia, suicide, profanity, or violence. |
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Alcohol/Tobacco/Illegal Drugs
The Alcohol/Tobacco/Illegal Drugs category group is blocked by Safe Browsing and High Productivity.
Content category | Includes | Test domain |
|---|---|---|
Alcohol | Websites related to alcohol. |
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Tobacco | Websites related to tobacco, smoking, or cigarettes. |
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Illegal Drugs | Websites related to illegal drugs, illicit drug sales, narcotics, or steroids. |
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Malicious
The Malicious category group is blocked by Basic Protection, Safe Browsing, and High Productivity.
Content category | Includes | Test domain |
|---|---|---|
Malware | Websites associated with malware distribution or communication. |
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Ransomware | Websites associated with ransomware distribution and control. |
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DGA | Domains generated using domain generation algorithms (DGA), including domains used to evade detection and communicate with command-and-control infrastructure. |
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Command and Control | Domains used for command-and-control (C2/C&C) communication with compromised devices. |
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Adware | Websites that distribute potentially unwanted programs (PUP), potentially unwanted applications (PUA), or advertising through pop-ups. This category doesn't include advertising websites. |
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Phishing | Websites that impersonate legitimate sites, contain phishing links, collect user data, or distribute malicious content through phishing. |
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Web spam or scam | Websites associated with spam, fraudulent services or products, and other scams. |
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Cryptojacking | Websites associated with unauthorized use of computing resources to mine cryptocurrency. |
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Hacking and cracking
The Hacking and cracking category group is blocked by Safe Browsing and High Productivity.
Content category | Includes | Test domain |
|---|---|---|
Hacking and cracking | Websites associated with hacking, cracking, stolen data, jailbreaking, or techniques for gaining unauthorized access to devices or networks. |
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Proxy/Anonymizers | Websites providing web proxies or methods for bypassing web-browsing restrictions. |
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Warez (includes torrents) | Websites associated with torrents, warez, software cracks, or pirated content. May include adult content available for download. |
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Bandwidth consuming
The Bandwidth consuming category group is blocked by High Productivity.
Content category | Includes | Test domain |
|---|---|---|
File storage | Websites that let users host files for private use or public sharing. |
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Streaming Movies & Video | Websites that provide streaming audio or video, movies or series for download, or online streaming. |
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Music | Websites related to streaming music, music publications, lyrics, bands, musical instruments, or music downloads. |
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Photo Sharing | Websites and search engines used to host or find images and videos. |
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Time stealers
The Time stealers category group is blocked by High Productivity.
Content category | Includes | Test domain |
|---|---|---|
Social Networks | Social networking websites that don't fall into the Job search category. |
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Chat and Messengers | Websites that provide chat applications or online communication services. |
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News/Media | News, newspaper, and other news-media websites. |
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Cryptocurrency and mining | Websites related to cryptocurrency and cryptocurrency mining. |
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Forums | Discussion and forum websites. |
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Webmail | Websites that provide browser-based email services. |
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Job search | Websites related to job listings, job searches, HR software, resumes, employment advice, or freelance work. |
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Classifieds/Auctions/Shopping | Websites related to shopping, second-hand sales, classifieds, or online auctions. |
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Real estate | Websites related to real estate availability, purchases, sales, or rentals. |
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Nonsense and time waste | Websites containing viral jokes, humor, memes, movies, videos, or other entertainment-oriented content. |
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Entertainment and Arts | Websites related to entertainment, art, celebrity content, gossip, humor, or viral content. |
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Gambling and Games
The Gambling and Games category group is blocked by High Productivity.
Content category | Includes | Test domain |
|---|---|---|
Gambling | Websites related to gambling or betting. |
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Games | Websites providing computer or online games or information about games. |
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