Site Blocking : Allow access to only one site

Avast Business Cloud Management Console & Clients
1

Is it possible to whitelist a site and block all others? I’ve tried several different variations, but it seems that this cannot be done. I was wondering if anyone else had found a way to make it work.

2

And why do you want avast to do so and not do it on the server ?
Next to that, why do you want clients only to access one site ?

3

There is no server involved in this scenario. We have several laptops out in the wild that are being used as ad-hoc point-of-sale devices. We’re looking for a way to restrict internet access on these devices to only be able to connect to the web portal for the point of sale system.

4

I would say setup a VPN and only allow them to use that.
Ofcourse you will need to set restrictions on each laptop so the settings can’t be changed.

5

The best solution I’ve been able to come up with is to setup a proxy server, lock that proxy into the system settings so they cannot be tampered with, remove the ability to install anything, and then set the proxy to only access the portal. It’s a bit of work, but it can be done. I was just hoping for a simpler solution since they are already running Avast!. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

6

http://www.vpnproxy.com/documentation/
Something like that should work also.

And yes, it is indeed a bit of work.
But if you do it correctly, you (almost?) have to do nothing to maintain it :wink:

7

So why do they have the option for site blocking in the Setting Template > Windows Work Stations > Web Shield?

8

I’ve found it to be useful for blocking sites that are known to distribute malware, blocking streaming services (Netflix, Hulu, Youtube), blocking social networks, and blocking known online proxies within our network. The VPN solution seems to work rather well if you’re looking to do something similar to what we needed.

9

So you can block sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc. with the web shield site blocking tool?

10

Absolutely. You can use patterns like this:

http://netflix
https://netflix

You’ll want to block online proxies as well, so people don’t go around them. For example:

http://hide.me
https://hide.me

We go an extra step here and prevent installation of unapproved software and changing of the system proxy settings through the use of group policy.