More often than not, a curious employee will try to bypass web filters to gain access to something that they shouldn’t. Not only is it a distraction that can lead to a dip in productivity, but it can also result in a severe breach of the security network.
Being able to bypass web filters can quickly turn your secure network into an infestation. While employees look for a distraction, malicious threats could seep into the network because of an open door.
Web filters are put in place to ensure employees stay productive, data remains secure, and your business avoids legal trouble. It allows businesses to control which websites users can access on company networks and devices. It helps block non-work-related or malicious websites while allowing access to resources needed for daily operations.
Let’s have a look at what web filters exactly are, the common ways that employees can use to bypass web filters, and how you can prevent them.
What is web filtering?
Web filters are a part of the web content filtering (WCF) process that screens and restricts access to specific web pages. It aims to block websites that could be unproductive or harmful if accessed.
WCF is widely used for keeping employees from visiting spammy websites and protecting students from objectionable content on adult websites.
It can be easy to confuse web filtering with URL filtering. URL filtering is a type of content filtering that works by blocking keywords, file types, malware correlations, or contextual themes of content resources.
How web filtering works?
Based on the enforced policies, web filtering uses rules and pattern recognition to block access to harmful or distracting websites. A brief step-by-step process looks like:
1. Pattern detection
The web filter scans website data for patterns such as keywords in text, metadata, or even objects within images that may signal harmful or inappropriate content.
2. Categorization
Based on these patterns, sites are grouped into categories such as adult, gambling, gaming, social media, and sports.
3. Rule matching
When a user tries to access a site, the web filter checks it against the pre-set rules and categories. If the site falls into a restricted category, it is flagged as objectionable.
4. Access control
The web filter then either blocks access entirely or logs the attempt, depending on the policy set by administrators.
5. Deployment options
Hardware-based: Can be installed on the network as part of a firewall or as a security appliance.
Software-based: Is installed on servers or endpoints to enforce predefined filtering rules.
6. Mobile filtering
As workplaces adopt more remote work policies, mobile web filtering ensures employees cannot access harmful or distractive websites on corporate or personal devices, regardless of their location.
This layered approach not only reduces productivity drains but also protects against malware and phishing threats.
Why bypassing web filters can be a problem?
Web filters are placed to accomplish certain levels of company mandates. In the event of an employee managing to bypass them, it can lead to the following shortfalls:
Security: Bypassing will increase the attack surface of the network by providing threats with the opportunity to breach the secure network.
Productivity: Gaining access to social media, game sites, and suspicious websites will lead to a fall in productivity of the organization.
Decency: Adult-oriented content and websites that are considered inappropriate, including domains that host hateful or otherwise crude content, are not suited for a work environment.
Compliance: Organizations need to maintain certain compliance levels to be considered a safe environment for hosting and holding sensitive user information. A breach can lead to the company losing customer trust and even its licence.
How can one bypass web filters?
To protect your company from the shortfalls of bypassing web filters, you need to learn how they can occur in the first place to better set up your defense. Let’s look at the common ways employees can bypass web filters:
1. DNS-Over-HTTPS (DoH)
DoH is a protocol that encrypts DNS queries, rendering the URL undetectable to network-level filters. While DoH was intended as a means to increase user privacy by reducing the data available to ISPs and other providers, it has caused problems in corporate environments that rely on DNS-based web filters.
To bypass web filters with DoH, employees can use web browsers that support DoH and bypass network-level web filtering policies. Web browsers, such as Firefox, have it enabled by default, which can raise security concerns in organizations that use web filters to protect their network against phishing attacks.
2. Web and application proxies
Proxy websites and applications act as a bridge between the user and the internet. Companies often use their custom-built proxy servers that act as a firewall and web filter, but they are vulnerable to third-party proxies that bypass internal content filtering measures.
Employees can use these third-party proxies to hide their traffic from the web filters and browse the internet freely. They can also modify settings in their web browser to forward traffic to a proxy server that is not managed by the company.
3. Virtual private networks (VPN)
A VPN creates a connection between two networks that is encrypted. It is used to provide access to remote workers with software applications hosted on the company network or region-locked applications.
A VPN can bypass web filters by tunneling through firewalls and masking the network traffic of the employee. VPN tunneling renders the web filter unable to overlook the connection and makes it difficult to decipher the websites they are visiting.
4. Using a Wi-Fi hotspot through cellular data
By using the tethering feature available on most smartphones, employees can create a private Wi-Fi hotspot that can be used to connect another phone, tablet, or computer to the internet.
This allows the employees to bypass the web filter by disconnecting their work device from the DNS-filtered network and connecting to their phone’s private Wi-Fi hotspot.
5. Portable web browser through USB storage
Several services offer portable web browser applications that can be installed on a USB flash drive. These USB-based web browsers are configured to route their internet traffic through a proxy address that bypasses the internet filtering policies that employees can use.
This connection is much harder to detect, as the browsers can be launched directly from the removable media device without the need to visit a website or install a program on the device.
How to prevent web filter bypassing?
Scalefusion Veltar is one of the most complete web content filtering solution that offers deep visibility and centralized control across all devices. It is designed for modern enterprises and brings together security, compliance, and productivity into one unified filtering system that works perfectly for office-based, hybrid, and remote teams.
Veltar uses a cloud-based filtering engine that ensures protection stays consistent across laptops, phones, tablets, and even shared devices, no matter where employees work from. Its web filtering solution offers deep analytics where every request, block, or violation is logged. This gives security teams the visibility they need to detect abnormal behavior, enforce regulations, and meet audit requirements.
It comes equipped with top-notch security features to prevent bypassing web filters, such as:
Real-time filtering engine: Every web request is inspected instantly. Harmful or suspicious websites are blocked automatically before they load, reducing the risk of malware, phishing, and drive-by attacks.
Granular access controls: Admins can create policies for specific users, teams, departments, or locations. For example, HR can access social platforms for hiring, while customer service cannot.
Category-based website controls: Websites are grouped into categories such as adult content, gambling, social media, and streaming. Blocking broad categories only takes one click.
Pattern-based domain blocking: Automatically blocks entire domains that match known malicious or suspicious patterns, even if the exact site has not been seen before.
Cloud-scalable architecture: Whether you manage 50 devices or 50,000 devices, Veltar scales effortlessly without additional hardware or manual setup.
Secure but not restrictive
Preventing employees from bypassing web filters is undeniably important. However, companies need to find the right balance between preventing threats and being overly restrictive to avoid productivity lapses. It is thus important that the security measures you employ can be configured on the fly. Additionally, they need to maintain their firmness in implemented policies and prevent any tampering by the employees.
Scalefusion Veltar is perfectly balanced and allows for on-the-go changes to the policies with granular controls for further tweaking them so it fits your organization’s needs perfectly.
Protect your business with the best web content filtering solution that can’t be easily bypassed by employees.
FAQs
1. How to get past web filters?
Common methods to bypass web filters at work include VPN to encrypt traffic, connecting via a web proxy site, or using a mobile hotspot to bypass the local network altogether. Other effective methods include using browser extensions, changing DNS settings, or, in advanced cases, using tools like Tor browser.
2. Why do employees try to bypass web filters?
While the reasons are plenty, employees usually bypass web filters to access blocked social media, entertainment, or personal websites during work hours, often driven by a desire for privacy or boredom. Sometimes, it can be the need to use restricted, non-malicious resources for legitimate research
3. Is it illegal to bypass a company’s web filter?
Though it is not criminal, bypassing web filters will likely be a violation of company policy (Acceptable Use Policy), which can lead to disciplinary action, including termination. It may also lead to a breach of data security policies, endanger company networks, or circumvent regulatory compliance
4. What tools do employees use to bypass filters?
Employees use a variety of tools and techniques to bypass network filters, ranging from simple browser extensions to sophisticated encrypted tunnels. These methods are designed to mask internet traffic, allowing users to access restricted sites, such as social media, streaming platforms, or personal email.
5. How can companies prevent web filter bypassing?
Scalefusion Veltar is the best solution to prevent web filter bypassing. It uses a cloud-based filtering engine that ensures protection stays consistent across laptops, phones, tablets, and even shared devices, no matter where employees work from.
