Newly-Registered-Domains

[GinAmRSA]

Hi Everyone

We recently implemented Advanced URL filtering at our University, one of the categories we have blocked is Newly-Registered-Domains, we created a custom URL group and implemented dynamic lists for the infosec team to add exceptions and put a good process in place.

The issue we seem to have is that we now face a challenge with our School of Computer Sciences, they have annual projects that require students to register and host domains externally and use Wordpress to create custom websites for projects, these often only last 2-3 weeks from where the students receive the project to where it needs to be submitted.

Thus we cannot wait for the sites to age, and on the other hand the infused team is being flooded by requests, has anyone ever had a similar issue or can think of a simple way around this without compromising security and affecting the user experience?

Thanks

G

[Claw4609]

Are the sites being accessed from devices in a computer lab or just from any device? If its a set group of computers, you could create a separate rule and url category for this group that doesnt block newly registered domains.

Is this being done using the free version of wordpress so it still has the wordpress domain at the end of it? While not the greatest you could whitelist the wordpress url, but again you would whitelist items you probably wouldn't want whitelisted but would be better than removing the url category block as a whole.

You could also look at doing something with a URL EDL And possibly set up some sort of automation that when they submit a workpress site you have something write it to this text file.

Ultimately what you are able to block and not able to block is dependent on the organization itself, so it may be that you unblock the category as a whole and accept the risks associated.