Flow-based inspection inspects the traffic as it passes through the firewall.
Flow-based inspection is the default mode.
Flow-based mode performs faster scanning and uses less resources on the firewall.
Go to, Policy & Objects > Firewall Policy > Inspection Mode: Flow-based
Operates as a poxy between the source and destination.
Adds more latency between the sender and destination.
Performs a deeper inspection but uses more resources.
Provides a higher level of threat detection/protection.
Go to, Policy & Objects > Firewall Policy > Inspection Mode: Proxy-based
Profile-based
This mode requires both application control and web filtering profiles.
Applies the profile to the policy
Create custom profiles, then apply to Firewall Policy if needed.
Applicable to both poxy-based and flow-based inspection modes.
To create/view web filter pro a profile, go to Security Profile > Web Filter.
Policy-based
Application control and web filtering applied directly to the policy.
Does not require application control and web filtering profiles.
Applicable only to flow-based inspection.
Go to, Policy & Objects > Security Policy.
Antivirus is always profile-based.
Firewall modes can be configured on FortiGate or VDOMs.
Go to, System > Settings
To access the SSL Inspection Profile, go to Policy & Objects > SSL Inspection & Authentication
Used to control and track the websites visited by users.
Decrease web-based threats.
Prevent data loss and viewing NSFW materials.
Go to, System > Replacement Messages
Changes a website category, not the category action
Go to, Security Profiles > Web Rating Overrides
Go to, Security Profiles > Web Filter > select a web filter profile > enable URL Filter > Create New entry > set Action and Status as enable.
Possible actions:
Allow – Allow access
Block – Restrict access
Monitor – Traffic is permitted and logs are created.
Exempt – Permits traffic from trusted sources to bypass all security inspections
Available within proxy-based mode
Requires FortiGate to perform deep SSL inspection
Restricts websites or images from search results
Logs all search keywords
Go to, Security Profiles > Web Filter > Search Engines
Requires FortiGate to perform deep SSL inspection
Scans the content within web pages
Matches content from wildcards or perl regular expressions
Go to, Security Profiles > Web Filter > enable Content Filter (under Static URL Filter) > Create New
Actions: Exempt or block.
Proxy-based mode with Full SSL Inspection is required
Requires a YouTube API
Go to, Security Profiles > Video Filter
Check if Security Profiles are applied to the right Firewall Policies.
Check FortiGaurd connection, use # diagnose debug rating
Web Filter Cache, System > FortiGaurd > Filtering > web filter cache timer
To view web filter log, go to Log & Report > Security Events > click on Web Filter