Manage Blocked Sites in Skyhigh Security Cloud Platform

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Skyhigh Security Cloud Platform may block sites that trigger high‑volume downloads due to security configurations designed to protect against malware, data exfiltration, or violations of fair‑use policies. Reports indicate that up to 68% of malware is delivered via cloud apps, so Skyhigh Security heavily scrutinizes downloads, particularly those from unclassified or risky domains.

As a result of high volume and risky traffic, two possibilities may arise:

The Skyhigh Security Cloud Platform security policy may remove HTTP range headers that clients use to request only a portion of a file. The Skyhigh Web Gateway will then download and inspect the entire file and deliver it to the client unless blocked by policy. Non‑RFC‑compatible clients, such as certain application installer programs, may not accept the complete file download and may continue querying the same portions of the file, often unnoticed by the user.
Clients often download updates in the background. These types of applications frequently download large archives containing multiple files, including executables.

When the Skyhigh Web Gateway unpacks those archives, and the customer policy does not allow the download of executables, the downloads are blocked. The client may then interpret this block action as a communication error and continue attempting to download the same archive. When such an application is installed across many workstations, this can result in a high volume of data being downloaded by the Web Gateway but never reaching the customer’s environment.

Typical examples include installer applications such as Wondershare, video players, and self‑updating applications like Adobe Acrobat or Google Chrome.

You are encouraged to regularly review security policies and adjust your security settings for known good applications and download sources, especially for sites that provide updates for applications sanctioned by the Security Administration for use on corporate devices.

In certain situations, Skyhigh Security may globally allow or block downloads to protect infrastructure and preserve your Internet connectivity. If content is blocked, your Security Administrator can bypass the affected URL from SSL scanning and further inspection by adjusting the policy.