8.23 Web filtering
Requires access to external websites to be managed so as to reduce exposure to malicious content.
5
artefacts
1
held by a system
2
at each review
hard
to go live
Document repository
where the evidence lives
teal = a system already holds it · olive = produced at each review
system holds itEvidence a system already holds
- Configuration evidence showing the filtering in force, including its coverage across office, remote and mobile users · Endpoint management (MDM / EDR)
periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review
- Evidence of handling encrypted traffic, and any decisions taken about inspection, with the privacy considerations · Data governance / DLP tooling
- Records of exceptions and of the approval and review of them · Document repository
governing documentDocuments that govern the control
- The web filtering policy defining the categories blocked and the basis for blocking · Policy repository / GRC workspace
- Reporting on blocks and on attempted access to malicious sites, with follow up on repeated attempts · Document repository
First move
Mostly documents and reviews. Pull the 1 system-held artefact from your Endpoint management (MDM / EDR) on a schedule; put the documents under version control with an owner and review date, and log each review as a dated record with a named reviewer.
Common gaps auditors find
- Filtering enforced on the corporate network only, so a remote user is unfiltered
- No control over bypass routes such as personal devices, tethering and virtual private network services
- Category lists left at defaults, blocking productivity categories while permitting newly registered and uncategorised domains that carry the actual risk
- Reports produced and never reviewed, so repeated malicious access attempts from one host are missed
Do this for your whole sheet
Paste the rows you run your controls from and get this mapping for every control at once, with the periodic-review ones flagged and a first move per row. No account for the first run.
Build my evidence sheet