Quick Reference Guide

ProSafe Wireless-N VPN Firewall SRXN3205 Reference Manual

Firewall Security and Content Filtering 5-25

v1.0, January 2010

Blocking Internet Sites (Content Filtering)

To restrict internal LAN users from access to certain sites on the Internet, you can use the VPN

firewall’s Content Filtering and Web Components filtering. By default, these features are disabled;

all requested traffic from any website is allowed. If you enable one or more of these features and

users try to access a blocked site, they will see a “Blocked by NETGEAR” message.

Several types of blocking are available:

• Web Components blocking. You can block the following Web component types: Proxy, Java,

ActiveX, and Cookies. Even sites on the Trusted Domains list will be subject to Web

Components blocking when the blocking of a particular Web component is enabled.

– Proxy. A proxy server (or simply, proxy) allows computers to route connections to other

computers through the proxy, thus circumventing certain firewall rules. For example, if

connections to a specific IP address are blocked by a firewall rule, the requests can be

routed through a proxy that is not blocked by the rule, rendering the restriction ineffective.

Enabling this feature blocks proxy servers.

– Java. Blocks java applets from being downloaded from pages that contain them. Java

applets are small programs embedded in web pages that enable dynamic functionality of

the page. A malicious applet can be used to compromise or infect computers. Enabling this

setting blocks Java applets from being downloaded.

– ActiveX. Similar to Java applets, ActiveX controls install on a Windows computer

running Internet Explorer. A malicious ActiveX control can be used to compromise or

infect computers. Enabling this setting blocks ActiveX applets from being downloaded.

– Cookies. Cookies are used to store session information by Websites that usually require

habits. Enabling this option filters out cookies from being created by a website..

• Keyword Blocking (Domain Name Blocking). You can specify up to 32 words to block. If

any of these words appear in the website name (URL) or in a newsgroup name, the website or

newsgroup will be blocked by the VPN firewall.

Note: Many websites require that cookies be accepted in order for the site to be

accessed properly. Blocking cookies may interfere with useful functions

provided by these websites.