how to block https sites on netgear router?

Question

I am using NETGEAR Wireless-N-300 Router Model among a couple of people to share internet connectivity.

I blocked facebook.com, but the users are access on protocol https, I blocked some ip´s of facebook but they have many IPs. I would like to block https://www.facebook.com/

Is there a way to do this with the above router.

To block facebook is to throw an ineffective technical solution at a social problem. — Falcon Momot, Jun 29 '13 at 05:21

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 04 '12 at 10:38

It doesn't look like you can on that model.

But it's easy enough to accomplish what you want - I'd tackle it by setting the company DNS server (or, if you don't have one, heaven forbid... client hosts files) to resolve facebook.com to a loopback address. I typically don't use 127.0.0.1, because that can be confusing when troubleshooting, but something odd in that /8, like 127.127.127.127 works well.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 04 '12 at 11:53

You may (depending on your environment) be able to get away with blocking 443 altogether, or allowing only specific IPs. With routers such as this, your choices will be limited.

The DNS solution is reasonable, and cheap.

If you want more granularity and ease of management or reporting down the line, you're going to need a better router (something more in the UTM vein perhaps) or to run a web proxy (which you could build with squid, or buy).

how to block https sites on netgear router?

2 Answers2