How to Enable SafeSearch

SafeSearch mode prevents a web search engine from displaying objectionable thumbnail images in search results; only filtered thumbnails are displayed in the search results. You can enable SafeSearch with the Safe Browsing feature on the BLOCK/ACCEPT > Content Filter page. This will limit search results to filtered thumbnails in Yahoo, Bing, Google, YouTube and other applications that return video and photo thumbnail search results.

How to Enable SafeSearch for All Users

1. Enable SSL Inspection if you want to enforce Safe Search over HTTPS, which is recommended.
   1. Barracuda Web Security Gateway 410 and higher: Enable SSL Inspection on the ADVANCED > SSL Inspection page and install a secure certificate in all client browsers.
   2. Barracuda Web Security Gateway 310 running version 12 and higher: Enable SSL Inspection on the BLOCK/ACCEPT  > Configuration page and install a secure certificate in all client browsers.
2. Go to the BLOCK/ACCEPT > Content Filter page. At the top of the page next to Policy on the right, select either Authenticated or Unauthenticated. 
3. In the Safe Browsing section, select the category/search engine for which you want to enable Safe Search. If you were previously using the YouTube For Schools feature, see How to Restrict YouTube Content On Your Network.
   

4. Click Save. 

   With the Barracuda Web Security Gateway version 9 and above, when YouTube SafeSearch is enabled, the user can only browse YouTube as a guest, and not as a logged in user. This means that private videos will not be visible, nor can videos be uploaded. The user can, however, log into Google or Gmail as usual.

   
   If you Enable SafeSearch, it will limit the thumbnails returned in search results for images and videos for ALL Authenticated or Unauthenticated users, depending on which Policy you choose per the steps above. If you want to limit SafeSearch to certain users or group(s) of users, you should Disable SafeSearch on the BLOCK/ACCEPT  > Configuration page and create one or more Exceptions for those users. The following example illustrates the process to do that.

Use Case: Safe Browsing for Students

To limit SafeSearch to a specific group of users, such as students, for example, but allow appearance of all thumbnail images in search results for teachers and staff, create an exception using the Enable action, like this example:

1. Enable SSL Inspection if you want to enforce SafeSearch over HTTPS.
   1. Barracuda Web Security Gateway 410 and higher: Enable SSL Inspection on the ADVANCED > SSL Inspection page and install a secure certificate in all client browsers.
   2. Barracuda Web Security Gateway 310 running version 12 and higher: Enable SSL Inspection on the BLOCK/ACCEPT  > Configuration page and install a secure certificate in all client browsers.
2. On the USERS/GROUPS > Local Groups page, create a new group called Students.
3. On the USERS/GROUPS > New Users page, add the students' usernames on the Barracuda Web Security Gateway to the Students group, following instructions in the online help for that page.
4. On the BLOCK/ACCEPT > Content Filter page, in the table under Safe Browsing , select Disable for each search engine listed in the table, or click the All link.
5. On the BLOCK/ACCEPT > Exceptions page, create the policy:
   
   1. For Applies To, select Local Group, and then in the next drop-down, select Students.
   2. Select the Exception Type as Content Filter.
   3. For Content Type, scroll down and select Safe Browsing.
   4. Select the Enable action (it may be automatically selected) above.
   5. Move rule to the top of the Exceptions list and save the changes. 
   6. Click the Add button to see the exception added to the List of Exceptions table on the page. 
   7. TEST your changes.