How do I create Web Security policies?

Topic 50517 | Web Security FAQ | Websense Web Security Solutions | Updated 07-Feb-2014


Applies To:	Websense Web Filter, Web Security, Web Security Gateway, and Web Security Gateway Anywhere, v7.7 and 7.8

Policies govern Internet access and are made up of:

Category filters, used to apply actions to URL categories

Limited access filters, used to permit access to only a list of URLs

Protocol filters, used to apply actions to Internet protocols

A schedule used to determine when each filter is enforced.

Each new Web Security installation includes a Default policy that controls Internet access for all clients not governed by another policy. It begins monitoring Internet usage as soon as you enter your subscription key.

As a best practice, edit the Default policy first, to set the baseline for Internet access at your organization. Next, create custom policies as needed to provide the levels of access needed for different groups in your organization.

To create a new policy:

Go to the Policy Management > Policies page in the Web Security manager and click Add.

Enter a unique Policy name. The policy name must be between 1 and 50 characters long, and cannot include any of the following characters:

* < > { } ~ ! $ % & @ # . " | \ & + = ? / ; : ,

Policy names can include spaces, dashes, and apostrophes.

Enter a Description for the policy. The description should be clear and detailed to help with policy management in the long term.

The character restrictions that apply to policy names also apply to descriptions, with 2 exceptions: descriptions can include periods (.) and commas (,).

To use an existing policy as the foundation for the new policy, mark the Base on existing policy check box, and then select a policy from the drop-down list.

To start with an empty policy, leave the check box unmarked.

Click OK to cache your changes and go to the Edit Policy page.

In order for the policy to take effect, you must both apply it to clients (to determine who is governed by the policy) and click Save and Deploy to implement your changes.

For a quick but thorough introduction to creating and editing policies and applying them to clients, see the "Policy Management" section of the New User (version 7.7) or New Admin (version 7.8) Quick Start tutorial.