Using Squid to filter Internet access

Content Control

Article from Issue 158/2014
Author(s):

Kurt describes how to use Squid's ACLs and ICAP when you want to limit Internet access, for whatever reason.

The last time I talked about Squid [1], I looked at using Squid [2] to intercept HTTPS sessions, which has become both more necessary (Wikipedia, for example, redirects all logged-in users to HTTPS) and more difficult (because sites like Google don't want HTTPS connections to be intercepted).

I did not, however, actually talk about the filtering aspects of Squid [3], and this has suddenly become a very important topic to me. My kids are getting older and will soon be using the Internet to surf the web, play games, Skype with relatives, and so forth. That means I want to give them access to cool sites, but I also really don't want to give them unfettered access to the Internet. Even with supervision, I don't trust all the third-party ads and junk served off many popular websites.

So, I'm going to assume you have Squid set up and running, either as a transparent intercepting proxy or for devices configured to use it. Squid provides two main mechanisms for controlling content: The first is internal ACLs you can configure, and the second is ICAP.

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