Web Use Categories

Last updated on 2024-04-04 20:36:51

The Barracuda Web Security Gateway URL filtering engine uses one of the most extensive content definition databases, covering some of the highest risk websites on the Internet.

WCS is a Barracuda Networks website categorization service that organizes domains into content categories (subcategories) which are grouped below by supercategories. When you create rules that block categories of websites, you can choose a supercategory to block, or you can drill down and block websites at the subcategory level.

WCS provides very granular categorization so that you can create fine-grained browsing policies for content, and create granular reports on user browsing activity.

Super Categories	Categories	Description
Adult Material
	Adult Magazines or News	Sites containing sexually explicit content in an image based or textual form. Any other form of adult/sexually oriented material is also listed here.
	Adult Search or Links	Adult-related search engines, links, rankings, or portal sites.
	Adult Porn	Sites containing sexually explicit content in an image-based or textual form. Any other form of adult/sexually-oriented material is also listed here.
	Dating	Sites that enable users to meet and interact with each other for the purposes of dating or making friends.
	Fetish	Sites containing sexually explicit content in an image-based. Any other form of adult/sexually oriented material is also listed here.
	Nudity	Sites containing bare images of the human body which are not suggestive or explicit.
	Sexual Expression(text)	Sites that contains sexually suggestive, explicit or erotic content.
	Sexual Services	Sex and sexually related information such as adult goods or merchandise, adult videos, adult game software, love hotels, brothels, escort services, models, etc.
	Swimsuits & Lingerie	Sites containing revealing images such as swimsuits and modeling, but not nudity.
Adult Recreation
	Fireworks	Sites that sell, promote, or enable people to use fireworks.
	Gambling in General	All online and offline gambling, and sites that promote gambling skills and practice.
	Lottery	Information related to lotteries issued by public institutions, such as state lotteries, and charity raffles.
	Paintball	Sites that sell or promote paintball game or equipment. This includes air guns.
	Smoking	Manufacturers and distributors of tobacco products, as well as websites that promote their use.
	Drinking	Restaurants and bars that primarily serve alcoholic drinks as well as websites that promote the use of alcohol.
	Alcoholic Products	Manufacturers and distributors of products that contain alcohol. This category also contains websites that promote the use of alcohol.
Business
	Agriculture	Sites providing information about, or promoting, the agricultural industry. This includes farms, seeds, supplies, etc., as well as agricultural news.
	Architecture	Architecture company websites, architectural news and review sites, sites supporting the architecture industry.
	Business & Commercial	Sites that provide business-related overview, planning and strategy information.
	Home & Family	Sites that deal with life issues and services including parenting, foster care, adoption, raising children, senior citizen related, etc.
	Law	Sites for law firms, attorneys, legal resources and materials, news, etc. Does not include government websites and legal information provided by those governments.
	Life Events	Sites that discuss or provide services for special life events such as marriage, divorce, bereavement, “coming of age” ceremonies (e.g. bar & bat mitzvah, shinbyu, Dawoodi Bohra, etc.).
	Miscellaneous	Sites that provide business content, but cannot easily be classified in one of the other categories.
	Mobile Operators	Sites that are owned by Mobile Operators. These sites include the promotion, sale, or administration of mobile services.
	Photography & Film	All photography companies, professional photographers, studios, filmmakers, cinematographers, and related companies, camera manufacturers, camera and equipment sales, and associated businesses.
	Private IP Addresses	Internet Protocol addresses that are commonly used for home, office, and enterprise local area networks.
	Side Business	Sites that provide information for careers.
	Transport Services & Freight	Sites of companies focused on providing cargo, freight and package transportation services, information related to the cargo and freight industry, news, etc.
	Unsupported URL	Malformed URLs that are not valid and cannot resolve to a web server. For example, `google.com google` would be considered an unsupported URL
Commerce & Shopping
	Auctions	Sites that allow bidding and selling of items and services. Does not include non-selling related advertising.
	Career Advancement	Sites that provide information for careers and side business information.
	Financial Products	All aspects of personal and corporate finance are included here. Sites that provide price comparisons between financial products, and sites that report or comment on financial matters.
	Insurance	Businesses and commercial organizations that provide insurance, insurance information, and so forth, as well as sites that provide information related to insurance, the insurance industry, etc.
	IT Online Shopping	Any site that meets the following criteria is listed here, especially IT products. Sites that offer goods for sale, represent a non-online retailer, provides comparisons between goods, preferential purchase schemes.
	Market Rates	All aspects of personal and corporate finance are included here. Sites that provide price comparisons between financial products, and sites that report or comment on financial matters.
	Online Trading	Sites that discuss, promote, or enable the user to trade online.
	Real Estate	Sites that provide residential and commercial property sales and rental information, listings and services.
	Shopping or Retail	Sites or order pages from which it is possible to purchase various products. Also includes websites of brick-and-mortar shops.
	Sweepstakes or Prizes	Information and sites concerning online or offline competition, money, or prizes that can be won by participants.
	Cryptocurrency	Sites that enable, distribute, trade, mine, or promote cryptocurrencies.
Cultural
	Weddings or Matrimony	Information and sites concerning services offered by matchmaking agencies designed to introduce members of the opposite sex for the purpose of marriage.
	Local Communities	Sites for law firms, attorneys, legal resources and materials, news, etc. Does not include government websites and legal information provided by those governments.
Education
	Education	Colleges, universities, primary and secondary schools are all included here. Online educational resources, such as exam syllabuses and example questions, are also included. Support organizations such as admissions bodies and research councils.
	eLearning	Includes online learning products, technologies, and services that promote online learning. Sites that are not associated with traditional education (e.g. grade schools, high schools, college/university) as described in the Education category, but provide online learning services.
	Reference	Online encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauruses, atlases and other information resources available for research purposes all belong to this category.
	Science	Sites focused on the various disciplines of science, research papers, companies and government agencies focused on scientific research and development.
	Sex Education	Sites that discuss sex and sexuality in an informative and non-voyeuristic way. Topics that fall under this category include: education about human reproduction and contraception, advice on preventing infection from sexual diseases such as HIV, and advice to the LGB communities on sexual health matters.
Entertainment
	Art and Cultural Events	Sites that promote or provide information about the Arts. These can include art galleries, art instruction, and art information, theater, symphonies, orchestras, operas, etc.
	Books or eBooks	Sites promoting printed and eBook publications, as well as sites distributing these publications.
	Costume Play or Enjoyment	Sites containing costume play content.
	Dining or Gourmet	All sites relating to restaurants (whether eat-in or takeaway) and pubs/bars. All recipes and cuisine related sites are listed in this category. Farms and other foodstuff manufacturers.
	Downloads	Any site whose primary function is to allow users to download media content except computer programs and mobile apps. This includes computer wallpaper, icons, fonts, etc.
	Entertainer or Celebrity	Sites that provide information about entertainers and famous people.
	Entertainment, Venues or Activities	Cinema, live entertainment, entertainment venues, social venues, meeting places, party/event venues, amusement parks, comedy clubs, etc.
	Fandom	Online resources based on interest in a popular entity in pop culture. These entities are usually fictional characters, fictional settings, performers, artists, movies, or television shows.
	Games	Information about the sale of game software and hardware, game downloads, game cheat codes, or games in general.
	Horoscope, Astrology, or Fortune Telling	Sites that provide, or promote, horoscopes, fortune telling, astrology, etc.
	Museums & History	Sites promoting museums, providing virtual online museums, historical information ,historical societies, and related clubs, etc.
	Music	Sites that provide downloadable music data, music, and movie-related music.
	Online games	All sites relating to video, computer or online games. All sites that support gaming through hosting online services, cheat information, general advice etc.
	Online Magazines	Sites that provide online versions of magazines that cannot be easily classified in another category, or provide multiple online magazines that would individually be classified differently from one another.
	Pets or Veterinarian	Websites for veterinarians, veterinarian clinics, animal adoption agencies, pet care, products and services for pets, information about pets, and news about pets.
	Professional Sports	Professional sport websites, except those related to gambling.
	Recreation & Hobbies	This category covers all activities or interests, other than sports, that someone might pursue for their own pleasure and not as a main occupation. This includes clubs and groups that pursue or meet for specific interests.
	Social Networks in General	This category contains social networking sites (SNS) focused on both personal and professional services that are not contained within other categories with more granular controls.
	Society & Culture	Social organizations and cultural sites that are not related to local communities, business or philanthropy. These sites include societal and cultural views and create awareness about topics related to heritage, activism, and history in various ethnicities, countries or regions.
	Sports in general	All sport websites - whether media-related or fan-related - are placed in this category, except those related to gambling.
	Streaming Media	Any site whose primary function is to allow users to watch streaming media.
Health & Medicine
	Abortion	Sites that refer to abortion information, legal issues, and organizations.
	Child Safety and Government Help Lines	Websites that assist children, youth, and families seeking help. These sites include helplines to promote well-being, and hotlines to report cases of neglect or abuse.
	Medication	Sites offering drugs (OTC or Prescription drugs) or common medicines, natural products, prescription medications, etc.
	Marijuana	Sites offering information, discussion, and/or resale of marijuana and associated products and/or services.
	Health	All sites related to personal health, hospitals, clinics, legally prescribed medication and related services.
	Self Help	Websites for self help including mental health, spiritual well-being, life coaching, or wellness. Sites dedicated to job and career development are categorized as Career Advancement.
	CBD Hemp Products	Websites that sell CBD or hemp products without THC and do not promote marijuana use. Example: CBD oil.
Illegal/Improper
	Child Abuse	Sites or images that include child pornography or abuse. This category is not entirely inclusive of all child abuse sites and may contain adult pornography.
	Cyberbullying	URLs that contain abusive and/or threatening messages towards other users or groups.
	Grotesque	It is not easy to define exactly what is offensive or tasteless. Sites included are not pornographic or violent, rather, more oriented towards content unsuitable for school children to view or that an employer would be uncomfortable with their staff accessing.
	Hate or Slander	Sites promoting aggressive, degrading, or abusive opinions about any section of the population that could be identified by race, religion, gender, age, nationality, physical disability, economic situation, sexual preferences or any other lifestyle choice.
	Illegal Activities	Sites that contain instructions, recipes, or advice on creating illegal items, such as explosives, or offer them for sale. Sites that give instruction on, advice about or promote of illegal acts.
	Illegal Drugs	Sites that sell illegal/controlled substances, promote substance abuse, or sell related paraphernalia.
	Self harm	Sites that contain examples or promotion of self-harm. This includes suicide, N/A cutting, and advocacy of eating disorders or euthanasia.
News & Information
	Automotive	Vehicle manufacturers, dealers and servicing are all covered by this category. Sites that allow traders or the general public to buy or sell vehicles. Clubs for specific manufacturers/models are applicable, as are discussion groups.
	Bulletin Boards	Sites offering access to Usenet newsgroups or similar services, or any other discussion forum that doesn't fit well in another category.
	E-Mail Subscriptions	Sites that allow users to register and cancel e-mail subscriptions, or provide mailing list services.
	Government	All central and local government websites are applicable, as are related bodies and agencies.
	IT Bulletin Boards	Sites offering access to PC newsgroups or similar services for IT, or any other discussion forum that doesn't fit well in another category.
	Military	Sites belonging to official military organizations or containing information relevant to their activities.
	News	Sites that report and deliver news, of interest to the general public, such as online news sites, printed or online newspapers, and current affairs sites (not focused exclusively on presenting entertainer news/gossip, etc.). Sites focused on specific industry news (e.g. finance, travel, health, etc.) are listed in those specific categories. Sites focused on providing news, information, and/or gossip about celebrities and entertainers are listed under Entertainment.
	Politics	Sites that provide political information.
	Popular Topics	Information concerning matters and affairs that rapidly gain public attention.
	Special Events	Information concerning special events.
	Violence or Suicide	Any site that displays or promotes content related to violence against humans or animals is placed in this category, as are sites that advocate any means of harming oneself such as self-mutilation or euthanasia.
Online Communication
	Instant Messages	Services for downloading instant message software and other related information as well as client based instant messaging.
	Internet Telephony	All sites that offer internet telephony/VoIP products and services.
	Web based chat	Web-based chatrooms.
	Peer-to-Peer or Torrents	All sites that facilitate the sharing of files using P2P software are placed in this category. This includes, but is not restricted to, sites that host P2P software and sites that allow users to search for files that can be downloaded using P2P software.
	Piracy & Copyright Theft	Sites that are clearly distributing copyrighted material in violation of the copyrights.
	SMS & Mobile Telephony Services	This category is used for sites that allow the creation or sending of SMS text messages. Sites that sell ringtones, games, videos, or other downloadable content.
	Web based Mail	Any site offering web-based email services is placed in this category.
	Web conferencing	Online conferencing and collaboration services, including web meetings, webinars, and webcasts.
Other
	Uncategorized	Some domains are very new, and Barracuda Networks does not have enough information to categorize them at this time. When users visit these new domains, Barracuda Networks automatically initiates an internal work flow to categorize them. Note that the URLs referring to brand new domains that are not yet categorized also tend to be malicious domains. Administrators must make careful choices to either allow or deny access to uncategorized domains based on their business concerns.
Security
	Advertisements or Banners	All advertising is placed in this category.
	BOT Phone Home	Sites that are used by malware to receive information from the malware.
	Botnets	Sites that are landing pages for botnets or are infected by botnets.
	Content Delivery Networks & Infrastructure	Sites including CDN (Content Delivery Networks) or sites or hosts/servers that provide back end services or functions for sites that make the internet or network function. These can include DNS, gateways, and APIs.
	Doh Dot	DNS over HTTPS/TLS sites and IP addresses that are used to bypass filtering.
	Hacking or Cracking	Resources for the illegal or questionable use of computer hardware or software are included here. Sites that describe how to gain unauthorized access to systems and that distribute copyrighted material that has been cracked to bypass licensing.
	Infected Sites	Sites that are infected with a virus or distribute viruses.
	Keyloggers	Sites that distribute or promote the use of keyloggers.
	Malware	Sites that may contain malware or promote the distribution of malware. These sites may be infected by a virus.
	Mobile Malware	Mobile sites that include mobile malware distribution or that can infect your mobile device.
	Newly Registered Domains	Sites that have been newly registered within the last 30 days and have not already been categorized into another category.
	Phishing Sites	Sites that used in phishing attacks.
	Remote Proxies	Any site that operates as a web proxy, allows access to software that can bypass web filtering, or offers guidance on how web filtering can be avoided is listed in this category.
	Remote Desktop Control	Sites that enable or distribute remote desktop control software or services.
	SPAM	URLs that typically are contained in spam messages and are associated with mischievous or unsolicited efforts.
	Spyware	Sites hosting software that attempts to get hold of personal or secret information without the user's knowledge.
	Tracking Sites	Sites or backend services that are dedicated to tracking user behavior or usage.
	VPN	An encrypted connection over the Internet from a computer to a network. VPN sites provide levels of privacy and anonymity with speed improvements.
Social Media
	Facebook	This category contains social networking sites (SNS) focused on both personal and professional services that are not contained within other categories with more granular controls.
	LinkedIn	LinkedIn social networking site.
	Twitter	Twitter social networking site.
	TikTok	TikTok social networking sites.
	YouTube	YouTube social networking and streaming media site.
	Instagram	Instagram social networking and messaging site.
	Tumblr	Tumblr social networking and media sharing site.
	Pinterest	Pinterest social networking site.
	Ask.fm	Ask.fm site.
	WordPress	WordPress site.
Society & Lifestyle
	Advocacy in general	General information provided by webmasters to promote their opinion on a subject or topic.
	Associations/Trade Groups/Unions	Professional associations, trade groups, and unions websites, and sites promoting these groups.
	Philanthropy & Non-Profit Organizations	Sites that are, or provide services for, charities, non-profit organizations, foundations, trusts, fundraising events for non-profit and philanthropy organizations, and seeking donations.
	Recycling/Environment	Sites that promote or provide information or services related to the environment, recycling and reuse of resources.
	Personal Web Pages/Blogs	Any site that hosts personal pages created by an individual to contain content of a personal nature rather than a company, organization, institution, and so on. This category also contains personal blogs.
	Fashion & Beauty	These sites are related to the Fashion and Beauty industry. Pages with models, clothing, and the discussion of current trends in fashion are found here.
	Employment	All employment agencies, recruitment consultancies and headhunters, contractors, and agencies assisting anyone seeking employment are placed here. All sites that allow job vacancies to be posted, offer career advice, describe how to get through interviews or prepare a CV/resume. Includes Human Resource services, outsourcing, training, and technology related to HR.
	Fitness	Sites that primarily promote, discuss, or enable fitness. These include gyms, studios, on-demand, personal trainers, and information about fitness.
	Kids Sites	Sites that are safe for or of interest to kids. Kids sites may include games, educational portals, multimedia, and other sites that are of interest to children.
	Home-garden	S ites related to renovation, maintenance and overall home projects. In addition, sites that discuss, educate, plan, or are related to gardening.
	Occult	Information concerning supernatural phenomena that cannot be scientifically explained or measured.
	Religions	Sites that relate to religion except for the traditional religions.
	Traditional Religions	All sites that relate to traditional religious belief or skepticism.
Technology
	Computing & Internet	All sites related to computer hardware and software - including sales. News and current trends regarding the computing industry or internet are also applicable. Professional bodies within the IT industry are included.
	DDNS	Sites that provide Dynamic DNS service are listed here.
	Emoticons	Sites that sell or provide emoticons.
	Hosting Sites	Sites that provide hosting services for websites.
	Infrastructure backend services	Sites and IP addresses that are used to support sites and services that typically do not contain content, but are necessary for the function of various backend services.
	Mobile App Stores	Sites that sell applications for mobile consumption.
	Mobile Apps & Publishers	Any site whose primary function is to allow users to download mobile apps and/or a company prompting their mobile app products. This does not include Mobile App markets that provide a wide range of mobile apps from two or more vendors.
	No Content	Active domains that return no content or no visible content. Does not include sites that are categorized as parked domains.
	Parked Domains	Place holders for sites that have not been created yet or parked domains.
	Photo Search & Photo Sharing Sites	Photo search and sharing sites that can include social aspects for clubs or other organizations to share information including schedules and forums. This category can also include image hosting sites.
	Program Downloads	Any site whose primary function is to allow users to download computer programs (e.g. for PCs and Macintosh computers). This does not include Mobile App markets, unless the site provides both computer and mobile apps.
	Ringtones	Sites that sell or provide ringtones.
	Search Engines & Portals	All search engines, meta-search engines, web directories such as yellow pages, business directories, etc., as well as internet portals (e.g. sites that contain links to numerous different content types such as News, Sports, Games, etc., all within the same site).
	Search Engine Caches	Sites that aggregate disparate information or allow users to search across large amounts of data.
	Storage Services	Sites that provide hosting for storage services.
	Translators	All sites that translate a web page from one language to another, or that transform the text contained within a web page.
Travel
	Public Agency Tourism	Sites that provide public travel information.
	Public Transit	Sites that provide public transit services and/or information about those services.
	Accommodations	Sites that provide hotels and holiday rental accommodation information.
	Travel & Tourism	Sites related to the following travel topics: listed travel agents, travel advice, timetable information, and car hire.
Violence & Weapons
	Weapons	Any site that sells weapons or ammunition or advocates the use of weapons. Sites of weapons manufacturers.
	Terrorism or Extremists	Any site that promotes, instructs, or advocates terrorism or extremism.
	Guns	Sites that sell or promote gun use. If sites contain guns, ammunition, and/or knives, they will be put into the general Weapons category.
	Ammunition	Sites that sell ammunition. If sites contain guns, ammunition, and/or knives, they will be put into the general Weapons category.
	Knives	Sites that sell or promote knives used as weapons or for hunting purposes. If sites contain guns, ammunition, and/or knives, they will be put into the general Weapons category.