A Virtual Private Network (VPN) allows users to hide their identity and location to access content on the Internet. While VPNs have legitimate purposes, they are commonly used by students to try to bypass school content filtering.
Before you begin
- You must have permission to manage Filtering .
Block VPNs with a Filtering Policy
Creating a Block Proxies and VPNs Filtering Policy will block most known VPNs and other filtering circumvention services and tools. However, new VPNs are created every day, making it challenging to prevent VPN use.
If you find a new VPN tool or service, contact Linewize Support for a review. You can create a Block Policy to temporarily block the tool or service while we update the Proxies and VPNs signature.
Turn on Quarantine (Appliance only)
Quarantine is designed to deter wrong online behaviour and to send the message that VPN use is unacceptable at school. If your school uses the Linewize Filter Appliance for Content Filtering while students are at school, you can turn on Quarantine for your Block Proxies and VPNs policy. Quarantine temporarily stops all internet traffic (by default for three minutes) when a user is blocked by your Block Proxies and VPNs policy.
Create a block policy for VPNs
- Go to Filtering > Content Filtering.
- Select + Create Policy.
- For Name, enter Block - Proxies & VPNs.
- For Type, enter Proxies and VPNs, then select the Proxies and VPNs category in the dropdown menu.
- For the Action, select Block.
- (Optional) If you want users to see your school’s Block Page, select the Blocked Page checkbox.
- (Optional) If your school has a Linewize Filter Appliance and you want to use Quarantine, select the Quarantine checkbox.
- (Optional) If you don’t want teachers accidentally overriding this policy with a Classwize rule, select the Locked checkbox.
- Select Save Policy.
- Find your new policy and select the Enable toggle to turn your policy on.