Web Filter

Web Filter

For Windows, macOS, and Linux profiles, you must enable FortiProxy (Disable Only When Troubleshooting) on the System Settings tab to use the Web Filter options.

FortiClient can block webpages outside of web filtering. This includes:

Malware Protection: see Malware Protection.
- Block Access to Malicious Websites
- Block Known Communication Channels Used by Attackers
Application Firewall: if the webpage matches a given signature where the action is set to block. See Application Firewall.

Webpage blocks generate an entry in the local FortiClient logs. If a website block cause is unclear, review the logs.

Configuration		Description
Web Filter		Enable web filtering. Enable or disable the eye icon to show or hide this feature from the end user in FortiClient.
Sync web filter profile from FortiGate / FortiManager in the fabric.		From the dropdown list, select the desired FortiOS or FortiManager Web Filter profile. When this option is enabled, you cannot modify the profile's Web Filter settings in EMS. Instead, EMS synchronizes Web Filter settings for this profile from the configured FortiGate or FortiManager depending on the synchronization schedule configured in Importing a Web Filter profile from FortiOS or FortiManager. You can still modify the profile's settings for other features, such as VPN or AV, from EMS. This option is only available if you have previously imported a Web Filter profile from FortiOS or FortiManager. See Importing a Web Filter profile from FortiOS or FortiManager.
General
Enable WebFiltering on FortiClient		Select Always On to enable client web filtering when on-fabric. Select Only When Endpoint is Off-Fabric to enable Web Filter on endpoints only when the endpoint is considered off-Fabric. See On-fabric Detection Rules. This setting affects the Block Access to Malicious Websites setting in Malware Protection.
Log All URLs		Log all URLs. When this setting is disabled, FortiClient EMS only logs URLs as specified by per-category or per-URL settings.
Log User Initiated Traffic		Log only user-initiated traffic.
Action On HTTPS Site Blocking		Display In-Browser Message Fail Connection & Show Bubble Notification Fail Connection
Enable Web Browser Plugin for HTTPS Web Filtering		Enable a web browser plugin for HTTPS web filtering. This improves detection and enforcement of Web Filter rules on HTTPS sites. After this option is enabled, the user must open the browser to approve installing the new plugin. EMS only installs the web browser plugin for the Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge browsers on Windows platforms.
	Sync Mode	When this option is enabled, the web browser waits for a response from an HTTPS request before sending another HTTPS request.
	Check User Initiated Traffic Only	Use the web browser plugin for only user-initiated traffic. This allows for faster processing. When this option is disabled, the plugin checks all URL requests.
Enable Safe Search		For Windows endpoints and Chromebooks, when enabling Safe Search, you can configure the Restriction Level to Strict or Moderate. This setting affects the content that endpoint users can access via YouTube and search engine, including Google and Bing. For Chromebooks, to set YouTube access to Unrestricted, you can disable Safe Search and configure Google Search and YouTube access with the Google Admin Console instead of FortiClient EMS. For macOS endpoints, enabling Safe Search sets the endpoint's Google search to Restricted mode and YouTube access to Strict Restricted access.
Site Categories		Enable site categories from FortiGuard. When you disable site categories, the exclusion list protects FortiClient. See the FortiGuard website for descriptions of the available categories and subcategories. For all categories, you can configure an action for the entire site category by selecting one of the following: Block Warn Allow Monitor You can also click the + button beside the site category to view all subcategories and configure individual actions (Block, Warn, Allow, Monitor) for each subcategory. The following lists each site category's subcategories.
Adult/Mature Content		Abortion Advocacy Organizations Alcohol Alternative Beliefs Dating Gambling Lingerie and Swimsuit Marijuana Nudity and Risque Other Adult Materials Pornography Sex Education Sports Hunting and War Games Tobacco Weapons (Sales)
Bandwidth Consuming		File Sharing and Storage Freeware and Software Downloads Internet Radio and TV Internet Telephony Peer-to-peer File Sharing Streaming Media and Download
General Interest-Business		Armed Forces Business Charitable Organizations Finance and Banking General Organizations Government and Legal Organizations Information Technology Information and Computer Security Online Meeting Remote Access Search Engines and Portals Secure Websites Web Analytics Web Hosting Web-based Applications
General Interest-Personal		Advertising Arts and Culture Auction Brokerage and Trading Child Education Content Servers Digital Postcards Domain Parking Dynamic Content Education Entertainment Folklore Games Global Religion Health and Wellness Instant Messaging Job Search Meaningless Content Medicine News and Media Newsgroups and Message Boards Personal Privacy Personal Vehicles Personal Websites and Blogs Political Organizations Real Estate Reference Restaurant and Dining Shopping Social Networking Society and Lifestyles Sports Travel Web Chat Web-based Email
Potentially Liable		Child Abuse Discrimination Drug Abuse Explicit Violence Extremist Groups Hacking Illegal or Unethical Plagiarism Proxy Avoidance
Security Risk		Dynamic DNS Malicious Websites Newly Observed Domain Newly Registered Domain Phishing Spam URLs
Unrated
Rate IP Addresses		Have FortiClient request the rating of the site by URL and IP address separately, providing additional security against attempts to bypass the FortiGuard Web Filter. If the rating determined by the domain name and the rating determined by the IP address differ, a weighting assigned to the different categories determines the action that FortiClient enforces. The higher weighted category takes precedence in determining the action. This has the side effect that sometimes the Action is determined by the classification based on the domain name and other times it is determined by the classification that is based on the IP address. FortiGuard Web Filter ratings for IP addresses are not updated as quickly as ratings for URLs. This can sometimes cause FortiClient to allow access to sites that should be blocked, or to block sites that should be allowed. An example of how this works is if a URL's rating based on the domain name indicates that it belongs in the category Lingerie and Swimsuit, which is allowed but the category assigned to the IP address was Pornography which has an action of Block, because the Pornography category has a higher weight, the effective action is Block.
Use HTTPS Rating Server		By default, Web Filter sends URL rating requests to the FortiGuard rating server via UDP protocol. You can instead enable Web Filter to send the requests via TCP protocol.
Allow websites when rating error occurs		Configure the action to take with all websites when FortiGuard is temporarily unavailable. This may occur when an endpoint is forced to access a network via a captive portal. FortiClient takes the configured action until contact is reestablished with FortiGuard. Available options are: Block: Deny access to any websites. This may prevent endpoints from accessing captive portals. Warn: Display in-browser warning to user, with an option to proceed to the website Allow: Allow full, unfiltered access to all websites Monitor: Log the site access
FortiGuard Server Location		Configure the FortiGuard server location. If you select FortiGuard Anycast for the Server field, you can select from global, U.S., or Europe. If you select FortiGuard for the Server field, you can select from global or U.S. If you select Global, FortiClient uses the closest FortiGuard server. FortiClient connects to FortiGuard to query for URL ratings. The URLs connected to for each server location are as follows: FortiGuard: Global: fgd1.fortigate.com U.S.: usfgd1.fortigate.com FortiGuard Anycast: Global: fctguard.fortinet.net U.S.: fctusguard.fortinet.net Europe: fcteuguard.fortinet.net
Server		Configure the FortiGuard server to FortiGuard or FortiGuard Anycast.
Keyword Scanning on Search Engine		Use rating categories from FortiGuard to allow, block, or monitor searches for certain terms. This feature is only available for Chromebooks.
Banned Word Search		Enable to configure actions (block or monitor) to take when the user searches for terms that belong to the following categories: Violence/Terrorism Extremist Pornography Cyber Bullying Self Harm
Custom Banned Words		Configure actions for individual terms. Enable Custom Banned Words, type the desired term in the Add Word field, then click Add Word. Configure the action for the term (Block, Monitor, or Allow), then toggle the Status to On. You can remove a term from the Custom Banned Word list by selecting the checkbox beside the term, then clicking the Remove Word button. The custom term may belong to a category under Banned Word Search. If the action configured for the category under Banned Word Search and the action configured for the term under Custom Banned Words differ, EMS applies the action configured under Custom Banned Words.
Exclusion List
Action		Select one of the following actions: Allow Block Monitor
URL		Enter specific URLs to allow, block, or monitor. You can provide the full URL or only the domain name.
Referrer/Host		Enter a specific referrer or host to allow, block, or monitor. You can provide the full URL or only the domain name. If the end user visits the URL through the referrer provided, EMS considers the rule a match and applies the specified action. If the end user visits the URL directly or through a different referrer, EMS does not consider the rule a match and does not apply the specified action.
Type		Select one of the following types: Simple Wildcard Regular Expression You can use wildcard characters and Perl Compatible Regular Expressions (PCRE). This field only applies to the value in the URL field and does not apply to the value in the Referrer/Host field.
Move this rule up/Move this rule down		Move the exclusion rule up/down in the list. If multiple exclusion rules are applicable, EMS applies the first applicable exclusion rule.

Web Filter

For Windows, macOS, and Linux profiles, you must enable FortiProxy (Disable Only When Troubleshooting) on the System Settings tab to use the Web Filter options.

FortiClient can block webpages outside of web filtering. This includes:

Malware Protection: see Malware Protection.
- Block Access to Malicious Websites
- Block Known Communication Channels Used by Attackers
Application Firewall: if the webpage matches a given signature where the action is set to block. See Application Firewall.

Webpage blocks generate an entry in the local FortiClient logs. If a website block cause is unclear, review the logs.

Configuration		Description
Web Filter		Enable web filtering. Enable or disable the eye icon to show or hide this feature from the end user in FortiClient.
Sync web filter profile from FortiGate / FortiManager in the fabric.		From the dropdown list, select the desired FortiOS or FortiManager Web Filter profile. When this option is enabled, you cannot modify the profile's Web Filter settings in EMS. Instead, EMS synchronizes Web Filter settings for this profile from the configured FortiGate or FortiManager depending on the synchronization schedule configured in Importing a Web Filter profile from FortiOS or FortiManager. You can still modify the profile's settings for other features, such as VPN or AV, from EMS. This option is only available if you have previously imported a Web Filter profile from FortiOS or FortiManager. See Importing a Web Filter profile from FortiOS or FortiManager.
General
Enable WebFiltering on FortiClient		Select Always On to enable client web filtering when on-fabric. Select Only When Endpoint is Off-Fabric to enable Web Filter on endpoints only when the endpoint is considered off-Fabric. See On-fabric Detection Rules. This setting affects the Block Access to Malicious Websites setting in Malware Protection.
Log All URLs		Log all URLs. When this setting is disabled, FortiClient EMS only logs URLs as specified by per-category or per-URL settings.
Log User Initiated Traffic		Log only user-initiated traffic.
Action On HTTPS Site Blocking		Display In-Browser Message Fail Connection & Show Bubble Notification Fail Connection
Enable Web Browser Plugin for HTTPS Web Filtering		Enable a web browser plugin for HTTPS web filtering. This improves detection and enforcement of Web Filter rules on HTTPS sites. After this option is enabled, the user must open the browser to approve installing the new plugin. EMS only installs the web browser plugin for the Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge browsers on Windows platforms.
	Sync Mode	When this option is enabled, the web browser waits for a response from an HTTPS request before sending another HTTPS request.
	Check User Initiated Traffic Only	Use the web browser plugin for only user-initiated traffic. This allows for faster processing. When this option is disabled, the plugin checks all URL requests.
Enable Safe Search		For Windows endpoints and Chromebooks, when enabling Safe Search, you can configure the Restriction Level to Strict or Moderate. This setting affects the content that endpoint users can access via YouTube and search engine, including Google and Bing. For Chromebooks, to set YouTube access to Unrestricted, you can disable Safe Search and configure Google Search and YouTube access with the Google Admin Console instead of FortiClient EMS. For macOS endpoints, enabling Safe Search sets the endpoint's Google search to Restricted mode and YouTube access to Strict Restricted access.
Site Categories		Enable site categories from FortiGuard. When you disable site categories, the exclusion list protects FortiClient. See the FortiGuard website for descriptions of the available categories and subcategories. For all categories, you can configure an action for the entire site category by selecting one of the following: Block Warn Allow Monitor You can also click the + button beside the site category to view all subcategories and configure individual actions (Block, Warn, Allow, Monitor) for each subcategory. The following lists each site category's subcategories.
Adult/Mature Content		Abortion Advocacy Organizations Alcohol Alternative Beliefs Dating Gambling Lingerie and Swimsuit Marijuana Nudity and Risque Other Adult Materials Pornography Sex Education Sports Hunting and War Games Tobacco Weapons (Sales)
Bandwidth Consuming		File Sharing and Storage Freeware and Software Downloads Internet Radio and TV Internet Telephony Peer-to-peer File Sharing Streaming Media and Download
General Interest-Business		Armed Forces Business Charitable Organizations Finance and Banking General Organizations Government and Legal Organizations Information Technology Information and Computer Security Online Meeting Remote Access Search Engines and Portals Secure Websites Web Analytics Web Hosting Web-based Applications
General Interest-Personal		Advertising Arts and Culture Auction Brokerage and Trading Child Education Content Servers Digital Postcards Domain Parking Dynamic Content Education Entertainment Folklore Games Global Religion Health and Wellness Instant Messaging Job Search Meaningless Content Medicine News and Media Newsgroups and Message Boards Personal Privacy Personal Vehicles Personal Websites and Blogs Political Organizations Real Estate Reference Restaurant and Dining Shopping Social Networking Society and Lifestyles Sports Travel Web Chat Web-based Email
Potentially Liable		Child Abuse Discrimination Drug Abuse Explicit Violence Extremist Groups Hacking Illegal or Unethical Plagiarism Proxy Avoidance
Security Risk		Dynamic DNS Malicious Websites Newly Observed Domain Newly Registered Domain Phishing Spam URLs
Unrated
Rate IP Addresses		Have FortiClient request the rating of the site by URL and IP address separately, providing additional security against attempts to bypass the FortiGuard Web Filter. If the rating determined by the domain name and the rating determined by the IP address differ, a weighting assigned to the different categories determines the action that FortiClient enforces. The higher weighted category takes precedence in determining the action. This has the side effect that sometimes the Action is determined by the classification based on the domain name and other times it is determined by the classification that is based on the IP address. FortiGuard Web Filter ratings for IP addresses are not updated as quickly as ratings for URLs. This can sometimes cause FortiClient to allow access to sites that should be blocked, or to block sites that should be allowed. An example of how this works is if a URL's rating based on the domain name indicates that it belongs in the category Lingerie and Swimsuit, which is allowed but the category assigned to the IP address was Pornography which has an action of Block, because the Pornography category has a higher weight, the effective action is Block.
Use HTTPS Rating Server		By default, Web Filter sends URL rating requests to the FortiGuard rating server via UDP protocol. You can instead enable Web Filter to send the requests via TCP protocol.
Allow websites when rating error occurs		Configure the action to take with all websites when FortiGuard is temporarily unavailable. This may occur when an endpoint is forced to access a network via a captive portal. FortiClient takes the configured action until contact is reestablished with FortiGuard. Available options are: Block: Deny access to any websites. This may prevent endpoints from accessing captive portals. Warn: Display in-browser warning to user, with an option to proceed to the website Allow: Allow full, unfiltered access to all websites Monitor: Log the site access
FortiGuard Server Location		Configure the FortiGuard server location. If you select FortiGuard Anycast for the Server field, you can select from global, U.S., or Europe. If you select FortiGuard for the Server field, you can select from global or U.S. If you select Global, FortiClient uses the closest FortiGuard server. FortiClient connects to FortiGuard to query for URL ratings. The URLs connected to for each server location are as follows: FortiGuard: Global: fgd1.fortigate.com U.S.: usfgd1.fortigate.com FortiGuard Anycast: Global: fctguard.fortinet.net U.S.: fctusguard.fortinet.net Europe: fcteuguard.fortinet.net
Server		Configure the FortiGuard server to FortiGuard or FortiGuard Anycast.
Keyword Scanning on Search Engine		Use rating categories from FortiGuard to allow, block, or monitor searches for certain terms. This feature is only available for Chromebooks.
Banned Word Search		Enable to configure actions (block or monitor) to take when the user searches for terms that belong to the following categories: Violence/Terrorism Extremist Pornography Cyber Bullying Self Harm
Custom Banned Words		Configure actions for individual terms. Enable Custom Banned Words, type the desired term in the Add Word field, then click Add Word. Configure the action for the term (Block, Monitor, or Allow), then toggle the Status to On. You can remove a term from the Custom Banned Word list by selecting the checkbox beside the term, then clicking the Remove Word button. The custom term may belong to a category under Banned Word Search. If the action configured for the category under Banned Word Search and the action configured for the term under Custom Banned Words differ, EMS applies the action configured under Custom Banned Words.
Exclusion List
Action		Select one of the following actions: Allow Block Monitor
URL		Enter specific URLs to allow, block, or monitor. You can provide the full URL or only the domain name.
Referrer/Host		Enter a specific referrer or host to allow, block, or monitor. You can provide the full URL or only the domain name. If the end user visits the URL through the referrer provided, EMS considers the rule a match and applies the specified action. If the end user visits the URL directly or through a different referrer, EMS does not consider the rule a match and does not apply the specified action.
Type		Select one of the following types: Simple Wildcard Regular Expression You can use wildcard characters and Perl Compatible Regular Expressions (PCRE). This field only applies to the value in the URL field and does not apply to the value in the Referrer/Host field.
Move this rule up/Move this rule down		Move the exclusion rule up/down in the list. If multiple exclusion rules are applicable, EMS applies the first applicable exclusion rule.

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