Cyfin & CyBlock Category Glossary — Category Definitions & Descriptions
Applies to: Cyfin and CyBlock · The complete list of content categories and what each one means.
Cyfin and CyBlock classify every website into a content category using the shared Wavecrest URL List — the categories are identical in both products. This is the full glossary of those categories and their definitions (the same list shown in-product under Help → Category Description).
Categories vs. classifications. A category describes the type of content (Gambling, Shopping, News). A classification is the policy label — Acceptable, Unacceptable, or Neutral — that your organization maps onto each category based on its acceptable-use policy. Category definitions are fixed (below); the classification mapping is configurable and set by you, so the same category may be Acceptable at one organization and Unacceptable at another.
Custom categories. Beyond the standard categories below, you can create your own custom categories for sites of particular interest (for example, intranet sites). That’s a separate task from the standard categories defined here.
The categories are grouped below the way Wavecrest organizes them — by the kind of concern they typically represent. Within each group they’re listed alphabetically.
Security Threats
Anonymous/Public Proxy — Sites that provide information on how to bypass filtering or monitoring systems, or provide a way to surf anonymously, i.e., access URLs by bypassing a Web filter or monitor.
Download Sites — Sites pertaining to the download of software. It includes sites that provide software downloads available for full or trial use at no cost or for a nominal, usually voluntary, fee, such as freeware and shareware.
File Sharing — Sites related to sharing and synchronizing documents, photos, videos, and other files in the cloud with other users and across multiple devices. Examples include Dropbox, Box, Hightail, and WeTransfer.
Malware — Sites that deploy viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, and other malicious programs and/or provide hacking instructions in order to disrupt information handling and transaction processing, steal sensitive information, and gain access to internal systems. Sites may also appear official in order to get personal information and display unwanted advertisements.
Legal Liability
Cults/Occults — Sites that promote or provide information on occults, satanism, witchcraft, voodoo rituals, and other alternative religions.
Fantasy Sports — Sites that allow individuals to build teams that compete against each other based on statistics of real individual players or teams of professional sports.
Gambling — Sites where users can place bets or get more information on gambling. This includes online casinos, physical casinos (that are not hotels), offshore gambling, lottery, and sports advisory services.
Hate/Crime — Sites that promote hate speech, racism and racial bigotry, terrorist activities, criminal activities, and instructions on criminal activities.
Illegal Drugs — Sites that promote or advocate the use of illegal drugs or the recreational use of prescription drugs. This includes sites that offer or sell drug paraphernalia and advocate the cultivation and manufacture of illegal or recreational drugs. This excludes sites about prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, educational information on the dangers of illegal and recreational drug use, or rehabilitation services for drug addiction.
Pornography — Sites that contain sexually explicit material that intends to be sexually arousing. This includes explicit sex images and videos, nudity, adult video sales, sex toys, prostitution, and prurient sex information. It excludes nonprurient art, medically-related images or information, and legitimate sex education.
High Bandwidth
Audio Streaming — Sites that provide streaming or downloading of radio, music, MP3 files, or other audio content.
Games — Sites that offer online games, downloadable games, video games, computer games, and information on cheat codes for games. It also includes sites that provide gaming tips, chatting, leagues, and networking.
System/Application Updates — Sites that provide updates to operating systems and desktop applications. Examples include Microsoft Windows, Adobe Reader, and antivirus software.
Video Streaming — Sites that provide streams or downloads of television, movies, or other video content.
VoIP Services — Sites that enable users to make phone calls via the Internet or to obtain information or software for that purpose.
Cloud Services
Cloud Infrastructure — Sites that provide the capability to provision servers, storage, data center space, networks, operating systems, and other essential computing resources as an on-demand service where the user is able to deploy and run software. Examples include Amazon Web Services, Bluelock, and CA Technologies.
Cloud Storage — Sites that provide the ability to upload, access, organize, back up, and share files, photos, and documents from any computer or mobile device. These sites essentially act as a personal or business hard drive on the Internet. Examples include Google Drive, OneDrive, Carbonite, and Flickr.
Collaboration — Sites that provide for collaboration among employees by videoconferencing, online training, Web-based e-mail, productivity apps, etc. Examples include Skype for Business, WebEx, Gmail, and Office 365.
CRM — Sites related to customer relationship management (CRM), customer engagement, customer service and support, and help desk management services. Examples include Zendesk, Salesforce, and Needle.
Development — Sites that provide open source software for software development including code collaboration and review, as well as software distribution, and also promote agile development software and services. Examples include GitHub, JIRA Software, Confluence, and Bitbucket.
HR — Sites promoting human capital management software solutions including onboarding, payroll services, performance management, recruiting software, applicant tracking software, and talent management. Examples include Workday, SuccessFactors, NetSuite, and Jobvite.
Productivity Drains
Auctions/Classifieds — Sites that support the offering, purchasing, and bartering of goods or services between individuals.
Blogs — Personal Web sites posted by individuals or groups chiefly devoted to personal expression. It excludes topic-specific blogs. For example, a blog about professional football would be located in the Sports category.
Chat/Instant Messaging — Sites that provide chat or IM services to communicate in real time with other individuals.
Entertainment — Sites related to movies, television, theater, comic books, anime, theme parks, fan clubs, and other recreational activities. It also includes sites about celebrities, celebrity gossip, etc.
Job Search — Sites that advertise jobs or are related to employment, such as resume writing, job placement, and recruiting.
News — Sites that report on current news and events, such as TV networks and stations, radio networks and stations, news organizations, online newspapers, and general interest magazines. It includes local news, TV, and radio. It excludes special interest media with narrow targeted audiences (e.g., a site publishing current sports news is categorized as Sports).
Personal E-Mail — Sites offering online or Web-based e-mail services for personal use. This excludes enterprise e-mail services.
Personals/Dating — Sites that provide networking for online dating, such as dating services, matchmaking, mail order brides, personal ads, singles groups, and dating advice. It excludes pornographic activities and mate swapping.
Shopping — Sites related to physical and Web-based retail activities and stores, shopping aids, coupons, and information about shopping. It excludes B2B sales, government purchasing, and online auctions.
Social Media — Social sites containing personal profiles with a wide range of images and text for purposes of social interaction. It excludes social sites specific to dating/personals.
Sports — Sites that include information about athletic activities, sports scores and news, and sports teams and leagues. It includes sites that solely sell sports merchandise. Hunting and fishing are included in this category.
Stock Trading — Sites that provide information on the stock market, stock quotes, stock tickers, personal stock transactions, and stock market news.
Travel — Sites that specialize in travel arrangements, airlines, hotels, cruises, travel agencies, and car rentals. It excludes local transportation.
Weather — Sites related to weather, forecasts, and meteorology.
Business Operations
Advertisements/Tracking Sites — Sites associated with ad serving technology and companies, and Web traffic analysis — that is, URLs that track Web analytics.
Agriculture/Environment — Sites about farming, ranching (including large-scale farming/ranching equipment sales), forestry, gardening, horticulture, etc. It also includes air quality, water quality, conservation, waste management, ecology, and animal protection. It excludes retail grocery and food operations.
Business Services — Sites that offer services to help run everyday business, such as printing and publishing, office supplies and furniture, consulting, accounting services, and maintenance and janitorial services.
Financial — Sites related to online and offline banking services, investment services, loans, bankruptcy, money management, tax consulting, and credit cards.
High Tech — Sites that develop and/or sell computer software and hardware products, and provide information on computers, technology, the Internet (non-ISP), and technology-related companies.
Insurance — Sites that provide information about or offer life, health, dental, automobile, and homeowner’s insurance.
IT Services — Sites for companies that provide Internet access (ISPs), IT services, data center services, Web site hosting, cloud infrastructure services (IaaS), etc.
Legal Services — Sites pertaining to law enforcement, courts, lawyers, litigation, and civil rights. It also includes do-it-yourself sites providing legal advice and online legal forms for wills, divorce, incorporating a business, etc.
Manufacturing — Mining and traditional manufacturing sites, such as electronics, textiles, and plastics. It excludes energy and vehicle manufacturing, petroleum refineries, and food processing.
Marketing — Sites that provide marketing and advertising services, information on marketing and advertising strategies, and Web site design services.
Real Estate/Construction — Sites that promote renting, buying, or selling of properties, or provide information on home ownership, property management, land use, and home and yard maintenance services. It also includes building or housing construction — contractors, construction methods, and architecture services.
Shipping — Sites that offer material shipping, packing and shipping, and mailing services.
Telecommunications — Sites that provide telecommunications services and products, cable TV services, and wireless services and products.
Transportation/Storage — Sites about commuter transportation, local train, bus, and taxi services and schedules, freight transportation, and commercial trucking companies. It also includes storage facilities, portable storage and moving containers, vehicle storage, etc. It excludes long-distance travel and car rentals.
Utilities/Energy — Sites related to energy exploration, processing and refinement, and distribution and marketing. It includes fuel for transportation, electricity, natural gas, wind energy, and solar energy.
General Interest
Animals/Pets — Sites related to pet care, pet adoption, animal training, and animal shows. It also includes breed-specific sites.
Arts/Culture — Sites that promote arts and culture including sculpture, paintings and other visual art forms, literature, dance, ballet, opera, and performance art. This includes museums and galleries, and sites about lifestyles, hobbies, and self-improvement.
Education/Reference — Sites about schools, universities, educational facilities, vocational and adult education, distance education, preschools and day care, homeschooling, faculty, and alumni groups. It also includes libraries, online dictionaries, language translation, book sites, maps, census information, almanacs, engineering and technical reference, scientific information, environmental science, political science, and medical research.
Government — Federal, state, and local government sites and sites about government functions and services.
Groups/Forums — Sites dedicated to user groups (e.g., Google or Yahoo groups) or general-topic forums. It excludes content-specific forums; for example, the Adobe forum is located in High Tech.
Health/Medical — Sites about hospitals, clinics, physicians, service providers, medical services, health products, and pharmaceuticals. Also sites that promote healthy living through diet and exercise, the dangers of illegal and recreational drug use and substance abuse, and rehabilitation.
IP Addresses — Numerical IP addresses that have not been categorized. This category is a red flag: it alerts you that further action may be needed to resolve a problem (such as malware or spyware on a computer) or gives a more complete picture of all Web activity. For why you might see many hits to an IP address and what to do, see the IP Addresses Category document.
Kids — Sites aimed at children’s interests. It excludes sites that sell children’s toys (those are in Shopping).
Military — Military sites and sites related to bases and general military information. It excludes military news and history.
Noncategorized/Other — Sites not previously categorized by Wavecrest Computing. Any accessed sites not yet categorized are assigned to “Other.” Through the free OtherWise service, organizations can send Wavecrest a Top Noncategorized Sites report; Wavecrest analysts then research, identify, and categorize the most popular unidentified URLs and update the Wavecrest URL List accordingly.
Nonprofit Organizations — Sites for charitable organizations, veterans’ organizations, and emergency support organizations.
Politics — Sites related to politics, such as political advocacy, political party organizations, and candidate Web pages, or any sites promoting a political party. It excludes official government organizations.
Regional Information — Sites that provide local events and local interest topics.
Religion — Sites that advocate religion or provide information on religion and religious activities, including specific organizations or places of worship. It excludes cults, religious hatred, and religious bigotry.
Restaurants/Food/Alcohol — Sites related to restaurants, diners, cafes, bars, pubs, recipes, cooking instructions, food services, grocery, beverages, and alcohol. It excludes cooking equipment sales.
Search Engines — Sites that provide Web search services, search directories, and search portals.
Tasteless/Offensive — Sites that include offensive information or excessive profanity. It excludes sites that fit into the Pornography and Hate/Crime categories.
Vehicles — Sites that sell and/or provide information about bicycles, automobiles, trucks, motorcycles, boats, and aircraft. It includes vehicle design and manufacturing, marketing and sales, maintenance and restoration, and vehicle clubs.
Weapons — Sites that sell, review, describe, or provide information on weapons, such as guns, knives, bombs, or martial arts devices. It excludes sites solely about hunting or hunting tools such as rifles and bows and arrows.
Additional categories
Artificial Intelligence — Websites employing AI technologies such as machine learning and deep learning to provide human-like services. This includes platforms offering chatbots, productivity tools, summarizers, transcription services, no-code solutions, and multimedia editing. It specifically targets sites actively hosting these AI functionalities, not just providing AI information. (A newer category; not yet reflected in every grouping.)