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Search Filtering feature blocks explicit thumbnail images

  • Article Number: 000001589
  • Products: Forcepoint URL Filtering, Forcepoint Web Security, TRITON AP-WEB, Web Security Gateway, Web Security Gateway Anywhere, Web Security and Web Filter
  • Version: 8.5, 8.4, 8.3, 8.2, 8.1, 8.0, 7.8, 7.7, 7.6, 7.5, 7.1, 7.0, 6.3
  • Last Published Date: April 30, 2019

Notes & Warnings

Important All Search Engine providers use HTTPS.  It is recommended to use a Forcepoint product with SSL interception enabled (for example, Content Gateway) for consistent Search Filtering.

To work successfully, Forcepoint Search Filtering relies on specific tags passed in the URL response. A Search Filtering interruption may occur when a search engine changes their URL SafeSearch tags. If you discover that Search Filtering is not working for a particular search engine, raise a case with Technical Support. 
   

Problem Description

Users are accessing undesirable content, such as explicit content and thumbnail images when using a search engine.

Resolution

Internet search engines, such as Yahoo, Lycos, Ask, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yandex and Google contain a configurable feature called SafeSearch. This feature can filter out most inappropriate content (explicit text and thumbnail images) from search results. 
 
Note Google changed the way it produces thumbnails so that it no longer pulls the data directly from a website, but rather hosts the images on their own servers. Other search engines may follow this method which is why SSL Decryption and using their SafeSearch feature is vital.
 
For information, see the following URLs provided by the search engine:

You can enable the Forcepoint Search Filtering feature from within the Forcepoint Security Manager. By default, this feature is not enabled. It allows filtering search result content while still permitting access to the search engines.

To enable Search Filtering protection in the Forcepoint Security Manager:

  1. Select Settings > Filtering.
  2. Select the Enable search filtering checkbox under Search Filtering.
  3. Click OK.
  4. Click Save Changes.

User-added image

With the Search Filtering option enabled, Websense will automatically insert the following tag into any search URL regardless of the Browser settings: 

&safe=active 
 

For additional information, see SafeSearch Feature Not Working With PIX Or ASA Integrations
 

 

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