The Websense® Master Database contains the industry's most accurate, current and comprehensive classification of URLs. We use proprietary classification software and human inspection techniques to categorize and maintain definitions of more than 95 URL categories in more than 50 languages.
URL categories help us ensure real-time protection against today's targeted and advanced threats. We update them according to intelligence provided by the Websense ThreatSeeker® Network, Websense Security Labs™ researchers and customer feedback.
Baseline Categories
Websense has the largest selection of baseline categories.
Abortion
Sites with neutral or balanced presentation of the issue.
- Pro-Choice: Sites that provide information about or are sponsored by organizations that support legal abortion or that offer support or encouragement to those seeking the procedure.
- Pro-Life: Sites that provide information about or are sponsored by organizations that oppose legal abortion or that seek increased restriction of abortion.
Adult Material
The parent category that contains the following categories:
- Adult Content: Sites that display full or partial nudity in a sexual context, but not sexual activity; erotica; sexual paraphernalia; sex-oriented businesses
including clubs, nightclubs, escort services; and sites supporting the online purchase of such goods and services.
- Lingerie and Swimsuit: Sites that offer images of models in suggestive but not lewd costume, with semi nudity permitted. Includes classic 'cheesecake,'
calendar and pinup art and photography. Includes sites offering lingerie or swimwear for sale.
- Nudity: Sites that offer depictions of nude or seminude human forms, singly or in groups, not overtly sexual in intent or effect.
- Sex: Sites that depict or graphically describe sexual acts or activity, including exhibitionism; sites offering direct links to such sites.
- Sex Education: Sites that offer information about sex and sexuality, with no pornographic intent.
Advocacy Groups
Sites that promote change or reform in public policy, public opinion, social practice, economic activities and relationships.
Business and Economy
Sites sponsored by or devoted to business firms, business associations, industry groups or general business.
- Financial Data and Services:Sites that offer investment advice and news and quotations on stocks, bonds and other investment vehicles, but not online trading. Includes banks, credit unions, credit cards and insurance.
- Hosted Business Applications:Sites that provide access to business-oriented web applications and allow storage of sensitive data, excluding those for web collaboration.
Drugs
The parent category that contains the following categories:
- Abused Drugs: Sites that promote or provide information about the use of prohibited drugs, except marijuana, or the abuse or unsanctioned use of controlled or regulated drugs; also, paraphernalia associated with such use or abuse.
- Marijuana: Sites that provide information about or promote the cultivation, preparation or use of marijuana.
- Prescribed Medications: Sites that provide information about approved drugs and their medical use.
- Supplements and Unregulated Compounds: Sites that provide information about or promote the sale or use of chemicals not regulated by the FDA (such as naturally occurring compounds).
Education
The parent category that contains the following categories:
- Cultural Institutions: Sites sponsored by museums, galleries, theatres (but not movie theatres), libraries and similar institutions; also, sites whose purpose is the display of artworks.
- Educational Institutions: Sites sponsored by schools and other educational facilities, by non-academic research institutions, or that relate to educational events and activities.
- Educational Materials: Sites that provide information about or that sell or provide curriculum materials or direct instruction; also, learned journals and similar publications.
- Reference Materials: Sites that offer reference-shelf content such as atlases, dictionaries, encyclopedias, formularies, white and yellow pages, and public statistical data.
Entertainment
Sites that provide information about or promote motion pictures, non-news radio and television, books, humor and magazines.
- MP3 and Audio Download Services: Sites that support downloading of MP3 or other sound files or that serve as directories of such sites.
Gambling: Sites that provide information about or promote gambling or support online gambling, involving a risk of losing money.
Games: Sites that provide information about or promote electronic games, video games, computer games, role-playing games, or online games. Includes sweepstakes and giveaways.
Government
Sites sponsored by branches, bureaus or agencies of any level of government, except for the armed forces.
- Military: Sites sponsored by branches or agencies of the armed services.
- Political Organizations: Sites sponsored by or providing information about political parties and interest groups focused on elections or legislation.
Health: Sites that provide information or advice on personal health or medical services, procedures, or devices, but not drugs. Includes self-help groups.
Illegal or Questionable: Sites that provide instruction in or promote nonviolent crime or unethical or dishonest behavior or the avoidance of prosecution.
Information Technology
Sites sponsored by or providing information about computers, software, the Internet and related business firms, including sites supporting the sale of hardware, software, peripherals and services.
- Computer Security: Sites that provide information about or free downloadable tools for computer security.
- Hacking: Sites that provide information about or promote illegal or questionable access to or use of computer or communication equipment, software or databases.
- Proxy Avoidance: Sites that provide information about how to bypass proxy server features or to gain access to URLs in any way that bypasses the proxy server.
- Search Engines and Portals: Sites that support searching the web, news groups or indices or directories thereof.
- URL Translation Sites: Sites that offer online translation of URLs. These sites access the URL to be translated in a way that bypasses the proxy server, potentially allowing unauthorized access.
- Web and Email Spam: Sites whose links are sent in unsolicited commercial email, either as part of campaigns to promote products or services or to entice readers to click through to surveys or similar sites. Also includes sites that display comment spam.
- Web Collaboration: Sites that provide virtual workspace for purposes of collaboration and conferencing, which may include sites that enable authorized access to a computer or network from a remote location
- Web Hosting: Sites of organizations that provide hosting services, or top-level domain pages of web communities.
Internet Communication
The parent category that contains the following categories:
- Web Chat: Sites that host web chat services or that support or provide information about chat via HTTP or IRC.
- General Email: Sites that provide email services open to general use.
- Organizational Email: Log in sites for corporate or institutional email systems.
- Text and Media Messaging: Sites that enable the sending of messages and other content via SMS, EMS, MMS or similar protocols.
Job Search: Sites that offer information about or support the seeking of employment or employees.
Militancy and Extremist: Sites that offer information about or promote or are sponsored by groups advocating antigovernment beliefs or action.
Miscellaneous
The parent category that contains the following categories:
- Content Delivery Networks: Commercial hosts that deliver content to subscribing websites.
- Dynamic Content: URLs that are generated dynamically by a web server.
- File Download Servers: Web servers whose primary function is to deliver files for download.
- Image Servers: Web servers whose primary function is to deliver images.
- Images (Media): URLs ending with image filenames.
- Network Errors: URLs with hosts that do not resolve to IP addresses.
- Private IP Addresses: IP addresses defined in RFC 1918, 'Address Allocation for Private Intranets.'
- Uncategorized: Sites not categorized in the Master Database.
News and Media
Sites that offer current news and opinion, including those sponsored by newspapers, general-circulation magazines or other media.
- Alternative Journals: Online equivalents to supermarket tabloids and other fringe publications.
Parked Domain: Sites that are expired, offered for sale, or known to display targeted links and advertisements.
Racism and Hate: Sites that promote the identification of racial groups, the denigration or subjection of groups, or the superiority of any group.
Religion
The parent category that contains the categories:
- Non-Traditional Religions and Occult and Folklore: Sites that provide information about or promote religions not specified in Traditional Religions or other unconventional, cultic or folkloric beliefs and practices.
- Traditional Religions: Sites that provide information about or promote Bahai, Buddhism, Christian Science, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Mormonism, Shinto and Sikhism, as well as atheism.
Shopping
Sites that support the online purchase of consumer goods and services except: sexual materials, lingerie, swimwear, investments, medications, educational materials, computer software or hardware, alcohol, tobacco, travel, vehicles and parts, weapons.
- Internet Auctions: Sites that support the offering and purchasing of goods between individuals.
- Real Estate: Sites that provide information about renting, buying, selling or financing residential real estate.
Social Organizations
The parent category that contains the following categories:
- Professional and Worker Organizations: Sites sponsored by or that support or offer information about organizations devoted to professional advancement or workers' interests.
- Service and Philanthropic Organizations: Sites sponsored by or that support or offer information about organizations devoted to doing good as their primary activity.
- Social and Affiliation Organizations: Sites sponsored by or that support or offer information about organizations devoted chiefly to socializing or common interests other than philanthropy or professional advancement.
Society and Lifestyles
Sites that provide information about matters of daily life, excluding entertainment, health, hobbies, jobs, sex and sports.
- Alcohol and Tobacco: Sites that provide information about, promote or support the sale of alcoholic beverages or tobacco products or associated paraphernalia.
- Blogs and Personal Sites: Sites that host blogs and personal sites.
- Gay or Lesbian or Bisexual Interest: Sites that provide information about or cater to gay, lesbian or bisexual lifestyles, but excluding those that are sexually or issue oriented.
- Hobbies: Sites that provide information about or promote private and largely sedentary pastimes, but not electronic, video or online games.
- Personals and Dating: Sites that assist users in establishing interpersonal relationships, excluding those intended to arrange for sexual encounters.
- Restaurants and Dining: Sites that list, review, advertise or promote food, dining or catering services.
- Social Networking: Sites of web communities that provide users with means for expression and interaction.
Special Events: Sites devoted to a current event that requires separate categorization.
Sports
Sites that provide information about or promote sports, active games and recreation.
- Sport Hunting and Gun Clubs: Sites that provide information about or directories of gun clubs and similar groups, including war-game and paintball facilities.
Tasteless: Sites with content that is gratuitously offensive or shocking, but not violent or frightening. Includes sites devoted in part or whole to scatology and similar topics or to improper language, humor or behavior.
Travel: Sites that provide information about or promote travel-related services and destinations.
User-Defined: User-defined category.
Vehicles: Sites that provide information about or promote vehicles, including those that support online purchase of vehicles or parts.
Violence: Sites that feature or promote violence or bodily harm, including self-inflicted harm; or that gratuitously display images of death, gore or injury; or that feature images or descriptions that are grotesque or frightening and of no redeeming value.
Weapons: Sites that provide information about, promote, or support the sale of weapons and related items.
