Block Youtube and WhatsApp Application

ElGamaci
Here to help

Block Youtube and WhatsApp Application

 

Greeting Dears,

I have a Mx device with an Advanced SEC license, and im trying to apply content filter to block social media ( Facebook, Messenger, Whatsapp, Twitter, Youtube).

 

i blocked the below Categories:

  • Social Networking
  • Internet Communications
  • Steraming Media 
  • Chat and Instant Messenging 

its working fine (It blocks the URL) when trying to open through Web ( URL ) but Unfortunately it does Not take effect on the mobile Apps ( Whatsapp, Facebook, and youtube).

And even tried to use specific url for youtube and facebook but with no luck.

Also tried to use the L7 Firewall to deny these Application but also does not block the application.

So Appreciate your Advice here.

14 REPLIES 14
alemabrahao
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

What version are you running? Have you opened a support case?

I am not a Cisco Meraki employee. My suggestions are based on documentation of Meraki best practices and day-to-day experience.

Please, if this post was useful, leave your kudos and mark it as solved.

I was using version 16.x and upgraded it to 17.10.2, beliving that it will do a good effect in my problem, but no positive process,

And yes i opened a case with support and they adviced me use L7 firewall, but as i mentioned it does not work. 

Do you have any group policy applied to clients that are you trying to test or maybe this client is on an allowed list?

I am not a Cisco Meraki employee. My suggestions are based on documentation of Meraki best practices and day-to-day experience.

Please, if this post was useful, leave your kudos and mark it as solved.

No No there is no any group policy configured, 

and also these social links(URL) are blocked on mobile , e.g if i tried to open facebook link in browser it does not open ,

But the main problem with the Application it is remain working . 

The application will open, but probably you are not able to post and see any updates. Both contenting filtering and L7 rules are used to block web services.

 

Traffic Blocked by Layer 7 Rule

The MR access point and MX security appliance differ slightly in their processing of L7 firewall rules after the L3 firewall. On the MR, if traffic matches an allow rule on the L3 firewall, that traffic will bypass the L7 firewall altogether. On the MX, if traffic matches an allow rule on the L3 firewall, it can still be blocked by an L7 firewall rule.

On the MX, HTTP traffic (TCP port 80) to Facebook.com will be blocked by the L7 firewall, because rule 1 under layer 7 explicitly blocks it, even though the traffic was allowed through the layer 3 firewall.

Layer 3 Rules

  1. Matched - Traffic allowed through L3 firewall
  2. Not processed
  3. Not processed

Layer 7 Rules

  1. Matched - Traffic blocked
I am not a Cisco Meraki employee. My suggestions are based on documentation of Meraki best practices and day-to-day experience.

Please, if this post was useful, leave your kudos and mark it as solved.

I know what you taking about.

but i didnt apply any L3 Firewall. 

I'm not talking about L3 rules, I showed you that L7 rules are used to block web services. As I said,  the application will open, but probably you are not able to post and see any updates.

I am not a Cisco Meraki employee. My suggestions are based on documentation of Meraki best practices and day-to-day experience.

Please, if this post was useful, leave your kudos and mark it as solved.

I just tested It and worked as expected, I was not able to play any video on the Facebook app on my smartphone.

 

 

alemabrahao_0-1669306500872.png

 

I am not a Cisco Meraki employee. My suggestions are based on documentation of Meraki best practices and day-to-day experience.

Please, if this post was useful, leave your kudos and mark it as solved.

Could you please test it for youtube and whatsapp applications 

Worked. 😃

 

I'm running version 16.16.7

I am not a Cisco Meraki employee. My suggestions are based on documentation of Meraki best practices and day-to-day experience.

Please, if this post was useful, leave your kudos and mark it as solved.

Thanks to Share the Applied Firewall Categories for blocking Whatsapp and Youtube to can try it in my MX, and if it does not work i will try to downgrade to ver 16.16.7 and try again and i will feed you back with the result tommorrow morning, 

thanks for your time and your efforts 

Dear,

thanks to provide the applied firewall rules please 🙂 

BlakeRichardson
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

Just bear in mind that blocking Youtube can break other Google services such as Drive. 

How did they block You tube ?? I have had it free for a while because if I block it, the Goole driver is blocked... it all happened a while ago after updating the Meraki MX84
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