Help — new website blocked

[Krzysiek23]

Hey guys,

I'm in the process of creating a new website for my agency. I'm using Framer to do that, the website is hosted on porkbun. I've just sent the draft to my friend to get his feedback and he's told me, that he cannot access the website, because it is being blocked by Fortinet. 

The whole message is as follows:
"the domain is in the category Newly Observed Domain. Your FortiGate Administrator has blocked this category". And then another pop-up, saying: "You have tried to access a web page that is in violation of your Internet usage policy".

Since we are just building a marketing agency web page, it's important to me as a business owner that all of my potential clients can access our website. Please help me to fix this issue.

[srajeswaran]

This is expected behavior as the URL is new. For now, can you create a static URL filter to allow the website. Ref:https://community.fortinet.com/t5/FortiGate/Technical-Tip-Using-a-static-URL-filter-feature-to-allow...

More details on Newly Observed domain error:

https://community.fortinet.com/t5/FortiGate/Troubleshooting-Tip-Newly-Observed-Domain-Webfilter-cate...

[ashleyray]

Fortinet, like other cybersecurity solutions, flags and temporarily restricts access to recently registered domains because cybercriminals often create new domains for malicious activities. While this helps in enhancing security, it sometimes leads to false positives, such as your situation.

Here's what you can do to remedy the situation:

1. Wait it Out:

   • If your domain is new, after some time, it will no longer be considered a "Newly Observed Domain." As the domain ages, the NOD classification should automatically drop.

2. Request a Category Change:

   • Fortinet allows users to submit URLs for review to update/change their categorization. You can submit your domain for re-categorization through the Fortinet Web Filtering Service: Fortiguard Web Filtering Recategorization Request.
   • Make sure you provide an explanation that your domain is a legitimate business website, and request its removal from the NOD category.

[spoojary]

You can change the category of the websites : https://community.fortinet.com/t5/FortiGate/Technical-Tip-How-to-configure-web-rating-override-for-s...

[JohnKuhn]

Thank you for answering, I appreciate it.

[vbandha]

Hello @JohnKuhn 

Make sure the action is set to monitor, instead of allow in webfilter for the category. You can also create a new custom category and assign the website to that.
Technical Tip: Web rating override does not work a... - Fortinet Community

Regards,

Varun

[mle2802]

Hi @Krzysiek23,
We can override the rating by referring to this document "https://community.fortinet.com/t5/FortiGate/Technical-Tip-How-to-configure-web-rating-override-for-s...

Regards,
Minh

[olivia678]

Hi there,

The "Newly Observed Domain" block is quite common for new websites, especially when hosted on platforms that may not have a long history or reputation with certain security filters like Fortinet. This block is typically in place to prevent access to potentially harmful sites that haven’t been categorized yet.

One solution is to contact your FortiGate administrator and request that they whitelist your domain. Additionally, you can submit a request to Fortinet for re-categorization through their website. This can help lift the block faster.

I’ve seen businesses like airport taxi services (such as https://jewelcars.co.uk) face similar issues with new domains, but once they followed these steps, the access issues were resolved quickly. It’s definitely worth a try to ensure your clients can access your website without problems.

Hope this helps!