Filter - How to Allow or Block Websites, Domains, or Keywords in Securly Filter

Within the Securly Filter console you are able to allow or block websites, domains, or keywords in addition to those contained in the Securly Categories.

You can either add these domains and keywords at a global level or at an individual policy level.

Websites, domains or Keywords added to the Global Policies will be allowed or blocked for all users.

Websites Domains or Keywords added to Custom Policy, IP Policies, Take Home Policies will apply to the users assigned to those individual policies.

Other Key Considerations:

In many cases Adding to the Global Allow or Block lists is not necessary. To read more about the use cases and limitations of the Global Policy please see this KB.

In some instances Securly does not allow certain domains from being added to the Block or allow policies. For more information please see this KB.

To see how teachers can allow and block websites please see this KB.

To read more about how Securly Filter handles regular expressions please see this KB.

Adding to Custom Policies

Screenshot of location in Filter console:

Steps:

1. Navigate to Policy Editor and select the policy for which you want to add to the Allow/Block list.
2.  
3. You can use the following formats in the relevant tabs:
   • Top-level domain: *.com, *.io (this will allow/block all domains with the specified TLD)
   • URL: example.com/thisisadummyurl (You can add such URLs to the blocked list. The Global Allow list lets you add only some URLs to avoid crowding and conflicts between rules.)
   • Subdomain: *.example.com (this will allow/block all associated subdomains.

Adding Keywords Search terms:

Select the ‘Search terms’ tab, and enter the keyword in the field.

Click the (...) more icon and select either ‘Exact’ or ‘Contains’ to determine how keyword searches are allowed or blocked.

Example: If you add the keyword “butt” and select ‘Exact’, then only the word “butt” will be allowed or blocked on various search engines.

If you add the keyword “butt” and select “Contains”, then all words such as “butterfly” will be allowed or blocked on the various search engines.

Similarly, you can add a phrase such as "momo challenge" and select either 'Exact' or 'Contains' to allow or block the phrase on various search engines.

Note: The Default Policy does not have an allow list by design. The Default Policy should typically be your strictest policy. 

Adding to the Global Policy

Screenshot of location in Filter console:

Steps:

1. Navigate to Policy Editor > Global Settings > Allow/Block and add the URLs or keywords there.
2. Select the Search terms or URL tab to add to the lists at the Global level.
3. You can use the following formats in the relevant tabs:
   • Top-level domain: *.com, *.io (this will allow/block all domains with the specified TLD)
   • URL: example.com/thisisadummyurl (You can add such URLs to the blocked list. The Global Allow list lets you add only some URLs to avoid crowding and conflicts between rules.)
   • Subdomain: *.example.com (this will allow/block all associated subdomains)
   • Keyword: examplekeyword (You would need to select either “Exact” or “Contains” as mentioned previously to define how it should be implemented and also include an asterisk before the first letter and after the last letter with no spaces in between)

Note: Any domains you add to the Global Block List that are not present in our database will be sent to PageScan for further analysis.

You can also write to us and submit domains to be added to the Securly database.