Smoothwall adverts category

[bknaggs]

Is anyone else seeing loads more stuff than usual blocked by Smoothwall as adverts today?

 

I say loads more stuff but the two specific ones are We Transfer and Twinkl which have never triggered this before.

[robintech]

Yes getting the same thing

[5tu]

Same here too - currently playing whack-a-mole

[ibpalle]

Asking the blocklist team to look into it.

[smarties11]

Yep same here, seems to be mainly when uploading / downloading things on a secure site, we've had the same issue today with SISRA (upload), VAT on gov.uk (upload) and our asset destruction company (download). The fix for all three was to add those domains to the HTTPS inspection exceptions list. Both Edge and Chrome were reporting these as secure sites but with some non secure elements? So I think the issue is something to do with HTTPS inspection and the adverts category somewhere?

[Lee2807]

Same problem here - lots of stuff that's normally fine is being blocked due to adverts

[smarties11]

Example...

 

[ibpalle]

EDIT - changed as I saw the screenshot after posting:

 

Some URL pattern is triggering the advert category. Adding that to the info.

 

 

Original post: Could well be https related - some brand new or expired certs on advert servers could cause this. HTTPS do not inspect or a do not filter policy will bypass that issue.

 

If the issue is expired certs, then we can only wait until they get updated. If it's brand new ones from a new CA, it could help to download that CA from the local cert store and install it on the Smoothwall in system - certificates - certificate authorities.

Edited October 16, 2023 by ibpalle

[smarties11]

EDIT - changed as I saw the screenshot after posting:

 

Some URL pattern is triggering the advert category. Adding that to the info.

 

 

Original post: Could well be https related - some brand new or expired certs on advert servers could cause this. HTTPS do not inspect or a do not filter policy will bypass that issue.

 

If the issue is expired certs, then we can only wait until they get updated. If it's brand new ones from a new CA, it could help to download that CA from the local cert store and install it on the Smoothwall in system - certificates - certificate authorities.

 

Definitely believe that the 'advert' category is being falsely triggered (by whatever URL pattern rule has been added / changed) rather than it being an advert server cert. SISRA and gov.uk don't have any adverts on at all and they're the two sites that brought the issue to our attention this morning. Have only seen it triggered here when attempting to upload or download - browsing to the gov.uk page to upload our VAT return, browsing to the upload page in SISRA to upload assessments and clicking a link to download a data destruction cert from our asset disposal company. I've not seen it triggered yet in general browsing but others may have??

[Lee2807]

Does seem to be a URL pattern another example below if it helps

 

[ibpalle]

Latest from the blocklist team:

 

Corrected blocklist is now live.

 

Please let customers know that the issue should have been resolved and provide them with instructions to download the latest blocklist (system > maintenance > licenses).

-----------------------------------

Also clear cache on browsers you are testing with

[smarties11]

Latest from the blocklist team:

 

Corrected blocklist is now live.

 

Please let customers know that the issue should have been resolved and provide them with instructions to download the latest blocklist (system > maintenance > licenses).

-----------------------------------

Also clear cache on browsers you are testing with

 

Working here now on the new blocklist

 

Thanks for the speedy fix! Was it an erroneous pattern triggering the ads category?

[5tu]

Latest from the blocklist team:

 

Corrected blocklist is now live.

 

Please let customers know that the issue should have been resolved and provide them with instructions to download the latest blocklist (system > maintenance > licenses).

-----------------------------------

Also clear cache on browsers you are testing with

 

Is there any way of knowing when the Cloud Filter has the latest blocklist?

[ibpalle]

Working here now on the new blocklist

 

Thanks for the speedy fix! Was it an erroneous pattern triggering the ads category?

 

 

Yes - no specifics were given on what.

[ibpalle]

Latest was pushed to cloud as well. Clients will update normally so should be in effect on a live system within 20 minutes.

[Lee2807]

Appears to be working here as well, thanks for the quick fix

[bknaggs]

Cheers @ibpalle things looking back to normal here.

[robintech]

Is Ver: 1697453761 the latest one

[matt_shakespeare]

Yes 1697453761 is the latest version

[tom_newton]

For cloud: smoothwall:// diag in the URL bar gets you the diag page with the blocklist version

The version is a unix timestamp - whack it in here - https://www.unixtimestamp.com/ - to convert it to Mon Oct 16 2023 11:56:01 GMT+0100 (British Summer Time)