Managing Uncategorized Sites in School Manager

Uncategorized websites are websites not assigned a Category or Signature in School Manager. These websites can pose a risk because new and obscure domains are often a source of malware, phishing or illegal content.

Identifying Unclassified Traffic in School Manager

You can use two reports, Apps and Websites and Connections, to identify unclassified traffic in School Manager.

Unclassified Traffic in the Apps and Websites Report

The Apps and Websites report shows a list of applications and websites accessed by users in your set time period. Sorting by the Category column heading will show Applications and Websites with no Category and are therefore unclassified.

1. Go to Statistics > Apps and Websites.
2. Set your time period using the date picker in the Navigation Bar.
3. Select the Category column title until blank results are displayed at the top of the Category column.
4. (Optional) Select the gray question-mark icon to the right of web addresses to see a preview of the websites you want to investigate. Copy and paste any domains you are concerned about into a text file for later reference.
5. Go to Filtering > Content Filtering and select Category Search.
6. Enter the domain name you want to investigate.
   
   • Include the top-level domain (.com, .com.au, .co.uk, .io)
   • Do not add the https:// or http://
   • Do not include any of the path (/archive/images/)
     For example "intergi.com"
7. Select Search.

If the domain or subdomain is Unclassified (doesn’t belong to a Signature or Category), you will see “No results found”. (See Checking the Category of a Site for detailed instructions.)

Unclassified Traffic in the Connections Report

The Connections report shows all active device connections. Sorting by the Application column heading will show applications and websites with no Category and are therefore Unclassified. The Realtime data allows you to investigate all connections, including uncategorized "noise" (your network infrastructure, DNS, CDN, and communications services).

1. Go to Statistics > Realtime > Connections.
2. Select the Application column title until blank cells are displayed at the top of the list.
3. Scroll down the list looking for unusual Destination IP addresses, but you may choose to ignore:
   
   • DNS servers and your network infrastructure in the Destination column
   • Connections using the UDP protocol (communications data), because the parent app or website is usually also listed in another line with a category.
4. (Optional) Select the right-arrow icon at the end of any row to see Connection Details, including the device identity and amount of data.
5. (Optional) Select Export Report if you would like to investigate the activity from a spreadsheet.

Blocking Uncategorized Sites

Uncategorized websites and applications can be sent to Linewize Support for reclassification.
Blocking Uncategorized Traffic

You can create custom collections of domains or subdomains of unclassified websites and applications. These custom lists can be used to allow or block websites in the Unclassified Category. If you choose to use custom blocking, you will need to regularly check for blocked traffic and update your Allow Unclassified Website List.

Create an Allow Unclassified Traffic Object Pool

You can create collections of Unclassified domains or subdomains for use in your own custom rules.

1. Go to Configuration > Objects > Pools.
2. Select Add Pool.
3. Give your Pool a Name and a Description, such as “Allowed Unclassified Traffic” or “Block Unclassified Traffic”.
4. Select Website List from Type.
5. Select Save.

Allow Unclassified Traffic

School Manager may block an Unclassified website if you have other rules blocking apps that use the same service.

1. Go to Filtering > Content Filtering.
2. You will see your current list of Content Filtering Policies (also referred to as rules).
3. Select + Create Policy.
4. Configure the following settings:
   
   • In Name, enter a name like “Allow Unclassified Traffic”.
   • In Type, start entering the name of your Object Pool. In this example, start typing, “Allowed Unclassified”
   • Select the Custom Website List matching the name of your Object Pool.
   • In Action, select Accept.
5. Select Save Policy.
6. In the Enable column, select the toggle until it is green.
7. Hold the three horizontal dots and drag your rule above any block rules with a similar category.
   
   • If the rule you need to be above is locked, Edit and Lock this rule. Locked rules are always at the top of the list and cannot have unlocked rules mixed in.

For more information on prioritizing rules, see Content Filtering Rule Ordering.

Block Unclassified Traffic

1. Go to Filtering > Content Filtering.
2. Select + Create Policy.
   
   • In Name, enter a name like “Block Unclassified Traffic”.
   • In Type, start entering the name of your Object Pool. In this example, start typing “Unclassified”.
   • Select the Custom Website List matching the name of your Object Pool.
   • In Action, select Block.
   • Check the Blocked Page checkbox.
3. Select Save Policy.

For more information on Locked and unlocked rules, see Content Filtering Overview.