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Correct destination logic before policy fails

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Problem statement

Category-based enforcement is only as good as the category assignment behind it. When a business-critical site is miscategorized, productivity breaks. When a risky site remains uncategorized or wrongly classified, policy looks stronger than it is.

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Client scenario

Use Web Categorization when you need to:

• inspect the existing category assigned to a website
• correct misclassified sites
• create local categories for business-specific policy
• support access, safe-search, or acceptable-use rules with cleaner destination logic

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Key benefits

Accurate categorization improves the quality of every category-driven control above it. It reduces noisy exceptions, makes access rules easier to explain, and helps operators troubleshoot category-based blocks without guessing.

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Prerequisites

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Client-side preparations

• Identify the exact domain or site path that users are accessing.
• Reproduce the traffic through SafeSquid so you can validate the final category outcome.

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SafeSquid-side setup

• Decide whether the site should fit an existing category or a new local category.
• Check whether a broader policy already consumes the category you plan to modify.

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Setup instructions

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Search the existing categorization first

In the category editor, search for the website or domain before making changes. This matters because operators should understand the current category state before overriding it.

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Change only what the policy actually needs

If one destination is wrong, correct that destination instead of widening multiple access exceptions around it. That keeps policy cleaner and reduces future troubleshooting debt.

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Create local categories carefully

Use a new category only when the business need cannot be represented safely by an existing one. A category name should make sense to operations, security review, and future administrators reading the policy months later.

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Retest the policy path after recategorization

Category edits should always be validated through the access rule that consumes them. A correct-looking edit in the editor is not enough if the consuming policy still behaves unexpectedly.

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Verification and validation

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Positive test

Search for a known site, apply the category change, then access the site through SafeSquid. Expected result:

• the site reflects the intended category assignment
• the consuming access policy allows or blocks as designed
• logs and reports show the expected category outcome

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Negative test

Test another site in the same broader destination family that should not inherit the change. Expected result:

• the categorization update remains narrow
• unrelated domains do not shift into the wrong control path

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Troubleshooting guide

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A category change does not affect policy outcome

Likely causes:

• another rule matches before the category-based rule
• the site is being matched by hostname, request profile, or explicit exception first

Isolation steps:

• inspect the final rule path in logs
• verify which access rule actually decided the request

Remediation:

• adjust the consuming rule order
• remove or narrow the conflicting exception
• retest the same destination

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Too many sites are affected by a category decision

Likely causes:

• the category is too broad for the business need
• a local exception should have been used instead

Isolation steps:

• list the destinations now affected by the category
• compare intended scope with observed scope

Remediation:

• move the special case into a narrower local category or exception rule
• retest approved and blocked destinations separately

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Related controls / next steps

• Use Access Restriction to consume category outcomes safely.
• Use Request Profiles when hostname or application context needs to complement category logic.
• Use Security Logs and Reporting Module to verify category-driven decisions.