APPLYING FILTERING LEVELS TO CATEGORIES

Filtering levels enable you to apply a filtering strength to a category rather than just blocking it or allowing it. Filtering Strength works by turning the different filtering technologies within CyberPatrol on or off. There are five filtering levels available, with the lowest being ‘Allow All’ (no filtering) and the strongest being ‘Maximum’ (all of CyberPatrol’s filtering technologies are used). The following list shows how CyberPatrol technologies are being used at each level of filtering, and how filtering becomes more restrictive, the higher the setting:

Allow All

The category is not filtered.

Low

Checks against the CyberLIST. If the site does not belong to a blocked category in the CyberLIST then it will be allowed. A very relaxed setting, there should be no unexpected blocks but inappropriate sites may be allowed through.

Medium

Checks against the CyberLIST then CyberPATTERNS. If the site does not belong to a blocked category in the CyberLIST and its URL does not contain any words that can be recognized by CyberPATTERNS, then it will be allowed. Though more secure than the Low setting, inappropriate sites may still be allowed.

High

Checks against the CyberLIST, then CyberPATTERNS, then Web Page Analysis. If the site does not belong to a category in the CyberLIST, the URL and page content do not contain any words that can be recognized by CyberPATTERNS and Web Content Analysis, then the site will be allowed. Access to inappropriate sites is much less likely with the High setting as the site address, words in the URL and the actual words on the page are checked. However, a page may still be allowed while carrying links to sites belonging to a blocked category.

Maximum

Checks against the CyberLIST then CyberPATTERNS then Web Page Analysis then Web Link Analysis. If the site does not belong to a category in the CyberLIST, the URL and page do not contain any words that can be recognized by CyberPATTERNS and Web Content Analysis and there are no links from the site belonging to a blocked category, then the site will be allowed. Particularly useful when users are using Search Engines, this is the strictest of all the settings. The Maximum setting actually checks for undesirable links to inappropriate websites as well as the content of the web page itself. This is a very secure form of filtering but there may be instances when CyberPatrol blocks a page which should be allowed.

Note: If you need a very secure filter but find that CyberPatrol is over-blocking, you can use Instant Override to access the page (see the section ‘Accessing Sites that are blocked’). Alternatively add the web page to your Sites Allowed (see the section ‘Ensuring that certain sites are always allowed’ so that CyberPatrol will always allow it regardless of what filter setting is in place.