How to Block Facebook

Zyxel_Cooldia

This is an example of using USG Flex H UTM Profile in a Security Policy to block
access to a specific social network service. You can use Content Filter and Policy Control to make sure that a certain web page cannot be
accessed through both HTTP and HTTPS protocols.

USG Flex H with Block Facebook Settings Example

Note: All network IP addresses and subnet masks are used as examples in this article. Please replace them with your actual network IP addresses and subnet masks. This example was tested using USG FLEX 500H (Firmware Version:uOS 1.10).

Set Up the Content Filter on the USG Flex H
In the USG Flex H, go to Security Service > Content Filtering > Profile Management > Add a Content Filter profile. Configure a Name for you to identify the Content Filter profile such as “Facebook_Block”. Configure the Action to block when the Content Filter detects events.

Go to Block List and type URL “.facebook.com” to add the URL that you want to block.

Go to Blocked URL keywords and type URL “.facebook.com” to add the URL keyword that you want to block.

Set Up the Security Policy on the USG Flex H
Go to Security Policy > Policy Control to configure a Name for you to identify the Security Policy profile. For From and To policies, select the direction of travel of packets to which the policy applies and apply the Profile > Content Filter “Facebook_Block” on this security policy.

Test the Result
Type the URL http://www.facebook.com/ or https://www. facebook.com/ onto the browser and cannot browse facebook, as below:

Go to Log & Report > Log / Events, you will see [alert] log of blocked messages.

What Could Go Wrong?

If you are not able to configure any Content Filter policies or it’s not working, there are two possible reasons:

• You have not subscribed for the Web_Filtering service.
  
• You have subscribed for the Web_Filtering service but the license is expired.

You can click the link from the Licensing > Registration screen of your Zyxel device’s Web GUI (http://portal.myzyxel.com/) to register license service or extend your Web_Filtering license on Zyxel Marketplace (https://marketplace.zyxel.com/).

Finally, go to the Licensing > Licenses and click the Refresh button to update the status and the Web_Filtering service shall be working.