About Predefined Categories - Netskope Knowledge Portal

Note

You must have the Generative AI Apps Upgrade license to use the subcategories for generative AI.

With Netskope Secure Web Gateway (NG SWG), Netskope provides predefined categories for web filtering. You can use these categories to create Real-time Protection policy rules to enforce your business rules and prevent data loss or exposure to threats from web traffic and user activities.

Netskope analyzes incoming web traffic against an in-house URL database that contains more than approximately 300 million URLs to determine the predefined category for the URL. This database is powered by a proprietary ML engine that uses various attributes of web pages (including content, images, TLDs, HTML/CSS, etc.) for classification, and is updated several times a day to provide accurate results.

The application and web categories shown in the UI are explained below.

Tip

For a list of sample URLs for each category, refer to the following CSV file.

Netskope-Predefined-Categories-Sample-URLs-05-27-26 Download

Use the following Netskope REST API endpoint to view the ID number for each category: GET /api/v2/services/cci/data. To learn more about REST APIs, see REST API v2 Overview.

Category	Description
Abortion	Web pages that discuss abortion from a historical, medical, legal, or other not overtly biased point of view. Examples are abortion pill, pregnancy termination, fetal abortion etc.
Adult Content – Other	Sites with adult content, excluding pornography. Examples include nudity, sex toys or dolls, etc.
Adult Content – Pornography	Pornography sites are the ones which allow the portrayal of sexual subject matter.
Advocacy Groups & Trade Associations	Sites that provide information on Industry trade groups, lobbyists, unions, special interest groups and professional organizations.
Aggressive	Sites that include militancy, torture, crime-scene photos, and descriptions or pictures of a violent, bloody or gory nature. Also includes sites that promote violence and sedition. Examples are mutilation, crime scene, massacre etc.
Alcohol	Sites that primarily promote, sell, manufacture, or provide information about alcoholic beverages.
App Admin Console	Web pages that allow administrative actions to be performed by the app administrator, e.g., anubhavg.goskope.com.
Application Suite	Application Suite indicates that applications listed under this category have multiple products from their respective companies in various other categories.
Arts	Sites that contain creative art judged solely for its intellectual or aesthetic components.
Auctions & Marketplaces	Sites that allow discussions or enable person-to-person selling or trading of goods and services through classified, online auctions.
Automotive	Sites about motorized transportation, including customization, procurement of vehicles or parts, and repair services. This category excludes sites about military vehicles.
Banking and Payments	Sites that allow customers to conduct financial transactions online through a bank or a payment service.
Business	Business sites that contain information on trade, purchase and sale of products or services.
Business Intelligence and Data Analytics	Business intelligence (BI) sites transform raw data into meaningful and useful information for business analysis purposes. BI technologies are capable of handling large amounts of unstructured data to help identify, develop, and create new strategic business opportunities.
Business Process Management	Websites that provide platforms, tools, or services designed to automate, monitor, and optimize business processes. These sites typically offer workflow management, process automation, integration, and performance tracking capabilities used by enterprises to improve efficiency and governance.
Chat, IM & other communication	Web pages with real-time chat rooms and messaging allowing strangers and friends to chat in groups both in public and private chats. Includes Internet Relay Chat (IRC). Examples are chat room, group chat, irc etc.
Child Abuse	Web pages that show the physical or sexual abuse of children.
Cloud Backup	Cloud backup applications address both enterprise and consumer backup needs for storing peripheral and server data in the cloud to prevent data loss in case of disk failures, data corruption or disasters.
Cloud Storage	Online services that allow users to store, manage, access, and share files over the Internet or remote servers maintained by cloud service providers. These offer scalable, secure, and flexible solutions that eliminate the need for physical hardware and enable users to access their files from anywhere with an Internet connection.
Collaboration	Websites and online services that enable real-time or asynchronous communication, file sharing, project coordination, and teamwork for individuals, groups, or organizations. These platforms are primarily designed to facilitate collaboration, productivity, and information exchange.
Consumer	Consumer cloud sites incorporate on-premise storage, computing, and device hardware. All of these can now be delivered from remote elastic storage and devices, such as smartphones, notebooks, and PCs.
Content Management	Content management (CM) sites support the collection, managing, and publishing of information in any form or medium. Digital content may take the form of text (such as electronic documents), multimedia files (such as audio or video files), or any other file type.
Content Server	Sites that offer content delivery networks (CDN) designed to store, cache, and deliver digital content (e.g., advertisements, web pages, files, images, videos, applications, and software updates) to end users.
Criminal Activities	Sites that provide information on how to perpetrate illegal activities such as burglary, murder, bomb-making, lock picking, etc. Includes also information on how to perpetrate non-online scams and fraud and how to fake drug tests. Photos of illegal activities such as necrophilia may also have this category in addition to any other applicable categories such as Pornography. Examples are theft, zoophilia, bomb-making etc.
Cryptocurrency	Sites that promote cryptocurrencies or manage cryptocurrency wallets and ledgers. This category also includes crypto-mining sites and cryptocurrency exchanges and vendors
Customer Relationship Management	Customer relationship management (CRM) sites provide a system for managing a company's interactions with current and future customers. It often involves sales, marketing, and customer service.
Dating	Sites related to online dating, matchmaking, relationship advice, and personal ads. Examples are dating advice and blind dates.
Development Tools	Development tools include websites, platforms, and services used by software developers and engineers to design, develop, or test software applications and systems.
Drugs	Sites that endorse the use of illegal drugs, or the misuse and abuse of prescription drugs and inhalants. Also includes sites containing positive references to the culture of drug abuse or giving non-clinical descriptions or stories (including blogs) about getting high.
Dynamic DNS Domain	Dynamic DNS Domain sites provide a method of automatically updating a name server in the Domain Name System (DNS), often in real-time, with the active DDNS configuration of its configured host names, addresses or other information.
E-Commerce Tools	Sites that provide tools to create e-commerce sites for trading products or services using the internet, excluding the actual e-commerce site itself.
Education	Education sites provide information on teaching, training,, or research, and provides guidance on convenient and portable learning options.
Enterprise Resource Planning	Enterprise resource planning (ERP) sites provide business management software, usually a suite of integrated applications, that collect, store, manage and interpret data from many business activities, including product planning, cost, manufacturing or service delivery, marketing and sales, Inventory management, shipping, and payment.
Entertainment	Sites related to movies, tv shows, music, the performing arts, celebrities, etc.
Family & Parenting	Sites that teach parents how to deal with their kids. Examples are k6 parenting, parenting kinder to 6th grade, etc.
Fashion	This category spans the entire fashion ecosystem, from everyday consumer goods (e.g., clothing, accessories, and beauty products) to professional services (including modeling agencies and models).
File Converter	Sites that allow conversion of files from one type to another, such as documents (including PDF files), images, audio, video, etc.
File Repositories	Sites with collections of downloadable software, downloadable applications etc. Also includes repositories of screen savers, wallpapers, web templates, ringtones, and any site with a collection of files. Excludes downloads of themes which fall to Hobbies-Themes. Examples are web templates, file collection, file repositories, etc.
File/Software Download Sites	Sites that host software on their own servers, so that its available for download 24/7.
Finance/Accounting	Finance and accounting sites cover financial, management, and tax accounting; auditing; and various financial and accounting tools, applications, and software. This category also includes products such as mortgages, loans, credit cards, and currency exchange, but excludes banks, online banking, and payment gateways and services.
Financial Aid & Scholarships	Sites that assist debit loans, credit loans in case of job loss or unemployment. This category also includes sites that show relevant information on scholarships or grants for the jobless, laid-off workers or low-income employees, which can either be a partial or a full coverage.
Financial News	Sites with news and articles on the aspects of finance. Examples are financial news, finance news etc.
Food & Drink	Sites that contain food and drink specific supply chain information or preparation procedure.
Forums	Sites dedicated to forums, newsgroups, email archives, bulletin boards, and other community-driven content.
Gambling	Sites with games that involve winning or losing of money based on strategy and chance. Includes information, tips, strategies, and rules for gambling games. Examples are bookie, betting, lotto etc.
Games	Websites with digital or physical games that are non-gambling, non-competitive, and designed for entertainment, learning, or skill development. This includes computer and video games as well as real-world games (e.g., board games, card games, and other playground or tabletop activities).
Generative AI	Sites that use machine learning techniques to generate new data from existing data sets, including text, images, and videos.
Generative AI – Code	Sites that provide AI services to assist with code writing, optimization, and generation. This includes platforms that support code completion, bug detection, and code suggestions.
Generative AI – Content and Multimedia	Sites used to generate multimedia content (e.g., text, images, videos, audio, and websites) with AI. This includes sites that use AI to provide information, tools, or services related to text-to-speech, video, music, sound, or image editing.
Generative AI – Conversation	AI-driven conversational assistants that utilize natural language processing and machine learning to facilitate human-like interactions. These are designed to support a wide range of tasks through conversational interfaces, typically accepting text and files as input while providing contextual, interactive support.
Generative AI – Meeting	Sites that leverage AI to provide meeting assistance services such as summarizing key points, highlighting action items, and generating lists of follow-up tasks.
Generative AI – Platform	GenAI applications hosted by companies to facilitate the development of these applications. These streamline the development process and enable developers to focus on core application logic without managing infrastructure platforms.
Generative AI – Tools and Stores	Sites that provide comprehensive tools and services for GenAI application development. This includes chatbot creation, access to pre-trained models and code libraries, and GenAI stores that have suites of downloadable apps.
Generative AI – Writing	Sites that provide AI tools to enhance writing quality, including grammar checking, style suggestions, rewording, etc.
Government & Legal	Government-owned websites, organizations, services and information provided by public sector bodies and state authorities at local, national, or international levels. This also includes legal services websites and any site that tackles legal aspects, government issues, topics, and services.
Health & Nutrition	Sites that discuss information, tips, guide and others related to health, wellness, eating healthy, and diet plans.
Help Desk Management	Help desk software, platforms, or portals that provide tools and services for managing customer support, IT service requests, and ticketing.
Hobbies & Interests	Sites related to activities done in free time and provide information on finding and starting new hobbies.
Home & Garden	Sites that provide information on the latest interior design ideas, beautiful lifestyle inspiration, and gardening.
HR	Human resource management (HRM) or HR sites that are designed to manage the entire employee lifestyle from recruiting, hiring and onboarding to resignation and offboarding. They encompass functions such as training and development, performance management, benefits administration, employee relations, and other workforce-related processes.
IaaS/PaaS	Application hosting providers, platform-as-a-service, virtual machine and bare metal services fall under this category.
Identity and Access Management	Identity Access Management applications provide features such as single sign-on (SSO), password management, multi-factor authentication, etc. They enable enterprises to manage a unified list of users across multiple applications.
Insurance	Sites that offers any type of insurance, insurance company, or government insurance program from medicare to car insurance to life insurance. Examples are accident insurance, travel insurance, self insurance, etc.
Internet Telephony	Sites that allow users to make calls via the web or to download software that allows users to make calls over the Internet. Also called Internet Telephony and Voice Over IP.
Investors & Patents	Sites that include information on investment business that creates, incubates, and commercializes inventions. Examples are kick-starting, crowdfunding, patents on inventions, patent, patent registration, patented invention etc.
IT Service/Application Management	Sites that provide IT service management and application management, and includes IT operations, app deployment, license management, app management, app maintenance and upgrading and app scenario testing.
Job Search/Careers	Job posting pages on company sites, job search sites, interview tips, job-related classifieds, temp work, contract work asked or offered, etc. Also includes sites that show information, tips, or guide on career advice.
Kids	Content, products, or services designed or intended primarily for children.
Knowledge Management	Knowledge management (KM) sites include capturing, developing, sharing, and effectively using organizational knowledge.
Lifestyle	Websites, blogs, and online platforms that focus on personal interests, daily living, and cultural trends. These sites provide content, products, or services relating to how people live, enjoy leisure, or pursue self-improvement that are not classified under any other specific category.
Login Screens	Sites used to login to a wide variety of services where the actual service is not known, but could be any of several categories (like Yahoo and Google login pages).
Logistics	Logistics sites provide information about transferring products from producer to consumer, including storage, transport, transshipment, warehousing, material handling and packaging with associated exchange of information.
Marijuana	Sites that promote or sell recreational marijuana products, excluding medical marijuana.
Marketing	Sites that target markets through market analysis and market segmentation, as well as understanding consumer behavior and providing superior customer value.
Military	Sites sponsored by or devoted to the armed forces. Includes Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard websites
Miscellaneous	Sites that do not fit in any other category.
Newly Observed Domain (NOD)	Domains observed as active in the last 30 days. Similar to NRDs, NODs might not necessarily be registered in last 30 days. Threat actors might register a domain and leave it dormant for a period of time to avoid NRD classification. Later, they can use the domain for malicious activities, such as malware hosting and phishing.
Newly Registered Domain (NRD)	Domains registered for the first time or changed ownership in the last 30 days. Threat actors like to use newly registered URLs for malevolent activities, such as malware hosting and phishing campaigns.
News & Media	Online (or offline) news sites covering news and events. Also includes collection of written articles that are printed in ink or distributed online, like magazines.
No Content	Sites that don’t have any content on the entire site is categorized as No Content.
Nursing	Nursing sites that have job vacancies, job descriptions, and other related information significant to nursing. Examples are nursing jobs, nursing hirings, etc.
Online Ads	Online ad site provide online marketing, Internet advertising, digital advertising or web advertising. Examples are online advertising, pay per click (ppc), cost per click (cpc), etc.
Parked Domains	Parked Domain is the registration of an Internet domain name without that domain being associated with any services, such as e-mail or a website. This may have been done to reserve the domain name for future development, and to protect against the possibility of cybersquatting. Examples are parked domain, for sale call domain owner, etc.
Pay To Surf	Sites that offer cash to users who install their software ads and track browsing habits, effectively allowing users to be paid to surf the web.
Peer-to-Peer (P2P)	Sites that provide peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing software. Note that this does not apply to online repositories of files for download over P2P, but only to the P2P software itself, and any company that provides that software. Examples are emule fileswire, file sharing software, frostwire, etc.
Personal Sites & Blogs	Blog sites are a platform for individuals to share news, opinions, and information about themselves in a date-stamped web log. Personal pages about an individual or that individuals family (also written in the first-person).
Pets	Sites that provide information and articles on domestic animals. Examples are cats, dogs, veterinary medicine.
Philanthropic Organizations	Charities and other non-profit philanthropic organizations and foundations dedicated to altruistic activities intended to increase the quality of life for groups or individuals. Also includes web sites that rate and review charities or act as conduits for online donations to selected charities. Examples are charitable giving, fund raisers, disaster reliefs, etc.
Photo Sharing	Sites that host digital photographs and allow users to upload, search, and exchange photos and images online. Also includes galleries and albums of photos hosted on businesses or personal websites. Also includes online photo printing where photographs may be uploaded and ordered as prints. Examples are photo albums, photo gallery, photo sharing, etc.
Piracy & Copyright Theft	Sites that provide access to illegally obtained files, such as pirated software (like warez), pirated movies, pirated music, etc. Also includes information or software available specifically for the purpose of using or stealing protected copyrighted materials without paying for them, for example, lists of software serial numbers, cracks, rippers, etc. Examples are DVDRIP, DVDZ, illegal movie, etc.
Private IP address	Private IP addresses are those reserved for use internally in corporations or homes. Also includes link-local, self-assigned, Zero-configuration addresses. Examples are self-assigned IP, private IP, etc.
Professional Networking	Social networking sites intended for professionals and business relationship building. These sites are generally more accepted in the workplace than standard social networking websites. Examples are professional networking, professional networking tool, etc.
Real Estate	Sites that provide information about buying, selling, developing, renting, leasing, and managing land and properties for residential, commercial, industrial, or investment purposes.
Redirect	Sites that redirect to other pages or sites is in this Redirect category.
Religion	Information sites and articles on religions from around the world, including their beliefs, practices, rituals, creeds, ethics and history.
Remote Access	Sites that provide remote access to private computers or networks, internal network file shares, or internal web applications.
Science	Sites that discuss the study and information in any branch of science. Examples are biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, etc.
Search Engines	Sites used to search the Internet and find other web pages. Excludes Image Search and Engines under Shopping group. But includes white pages, yellow pages, and business search directories whether global or local. Examples are business listings, find people, people finder, etc.
Security	Sites that protect data, such as a database, from destructive forces and the unwanted actions of unauthorized users, and defends information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, perusal, inspection, recording or destruction.
Security Risk	Sites that are pervasive and can pose a direct threat to business availability. A risk management site is essential for managing vulnerabilities and other risks.
Security Risk – Ad Fraud	Sites that are being used to commit fraudulent online display advertising transactions using different ad impression boosting techniques, including but not limited to ads stacking, iframe stuffing, and hidden ads. Sites that have high non-human web traffic and with rapid, large, and unexplained changes in traffic.
Security Risk – Attack	Sites that attempt to gain unauthorized access to information resources or services or cause harm or damage to information systems.
Security Risk – Botnets	Sites or compromised web servers running software that is used by hackers to send spam, phishing attacks, and denial of service attacks.
Security Risk – Command and Control server	Internet servers and compromised command and control (C2 or C&C) servers and centers used to send commands to infected machines called bots. And sites that are a security risk because call-home malware is detected.
Security Risk – Compromised/malicious sites	Sites that appear to be legitimate, but house malicious code or link to malicious websites hosting malware. These sites have been compromised by someone other than the site owner.
Security Risk – Cryptocurrency Mining	Sites that use cryptocurrency mining technology without user permission.
Security Risk – DGA	Domains that are generated algorithmically using a domain generation algorithm (DGA). These domains are used by DGA-based malware as their C2 channel, and they aim to hide the location of the active C2 server.
Security Risk – Hacking	Sites with information or tools specifically intended to assist in online crime, such as the unauthorized access to computers, but also pages with tools and information that enables fraud and other online crime.
Security Risk – Malware Call-Home	Sites that are a security risk due to usage by malware for call-home activities such as, downloading more malicious tools, exfiltrating stolen data, reporting status, or receiving instructions.
Security Risk – Malware Distribution Point	Sites that host viruses, exploits, and other malware are considered Malware Distribution Points.
Security Risk – Miscellaneous	Sites with security risk indicators that aren’t mapped to any of the other listed security risk types (e.g., high risk, medium risk, and possible risk).
Security Risk – Phishing/Fraud	Sites that impersonate other web pages, usually with the intent of stealing passwords, credit card numbers, or other information. Also includes websites that are part of scams such as a 419 scam where a person is convinced to hand over money with the expectation of a big payback that never comes (e.g., con, hoax, scam, etc.).
Security Risk – Spam sites	URLs that frequently occur in spam messages.
Security Risk – Spyware & Questionable Software	Sites that report information back to a central server, such as spyware or keystroke loggers. It also includes software that may have legitimate purposes, but some people may object to having on their system.
Shareware/Freeware	Sites that offer licensed downloads on software for evaluation, after which a fee will be requested for continued use. Also includes companiy sites offering free use of their software for life. Examples are free software downloads, trial wires, free trial software, demoware, etc.
Shopping	Websites and online platforms with the primary purpose of selling or facilitating the purchase of products. These sites allow users to browse, compare, and buy items directly online or through digital marketplaces.
Social	Web sites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.
Social & Affiliation Organizations	Sites for clubs, social organizations, and groups that form around common interests where the primary purpose is to meet for social purposes or to meet people with common interests. Clubs may be devoted to social activities, hobbies, religion, politics, etc. Excludes sports clubs, teams, and organizations. Examples are book club, scouts, sorority, etc.
Sports	Web pages that provide information on news, events, schedules, rankings, and other aspects of sports.
Streaming & Downloadable Audio	Sites with repositories of music that provide streaming music, or other audio files that might pose a bandwidth risk to companies. Examples are internet radio, mp3 downloads, Shoutcasts, etc.
Streaming & Downloadable Video	Sites that provide streaming or downloadable video content — including movies, TV shows, user-generated video, and live video broadcasts — which can consume significant network bandwidth.
Survey Solutions	Sites for survey methodology studies, like the sampling of individual units from a population and the associated survey data collection techniques, such as questionnaire construction and methods for improving the number and accuracy of responses to surveys.
Technology	Sites that cover tools, systems, digital solutions, or anything related to technology, but are not classified under any other specific category (e.g., robotics, cloud computing software, drones, etc.).
Telecom and Call Center	Telecom applications use the VoIP protocol to enable telephone connectivity in inter-office and intra-office environments. Vendors create virtual PBX in their data centers to handle multiple customers. Call Center applications provide enterprises with the features and tools to automate the process of receiving and responding to customer phone calls. Features include call tracking, monitoring, multimedia recording, employee evaluation of call handling capabilities through automated feedback, multi-site routing, and voice recognition.
Telecommuting	Sites that depict working remotely. Employees do not need to commute to a central place of work. Examples are remote work, telework, home based jobs, etc.
Tobacco	Sites that promote or sell tobacco products, such as cigarettes, cigars, shisha, chew, and e-cigarettes.
Trading & Investing	Sites assisting in investing, trading, stock, and share dealing.
Translation	Sites offering language translation services, including text, document, and web page translation between two or more languages.
Travel	Sites that provides travel information, guidance, and tips on travel. Also includes sites with information, travel timetable, online bookings, hotels and other related details on travel.
Uncategorized	Domains that are yet to be categorized.
Unreachable	Sites that give errors such as “Network Timeout”, “Taking too long to respond” or “Address Not Found”.
URL Shorteners	Sites that reduce the length of URLs, minimizing web pages addresses to make them easier to remember and track. This category also includes URLs that were shortened with these sites.
Utilities	Sites that include tips, information and guide to computer utilities, such as disk backup, etc. Examples are disk performance, system utilities, PC performance tools, etc.
Weapons	Site with guns and weapons not used in a violent manner, such as descriptions, sport hunting, gun clubs, or paintball. It also includes other weapons like crossbows, knives, etc. Examples are gun crossbow, knives, rifles, etc.
Web Analytics	Web analytics sites that measure, collect, analyze, and report web data to understand and optimize web usage. Web analytics applications can also help companies measure the results of traditional print or broadcast advertising campaigns.
Web Conferencing	Websites and online services that enable live virtual meetings, video or audio conferencing, webinars, and screen sharing over the Internet. These platforms are designed for real-time communication between remote participants.
Web Design	Web design sites encompass many different skills and disciplines in the production and maintenance of websites. The different areas of web design include web graphic design, interface design, authoring, including standardized code and proprietary software, user experience design, and search engine optimization.
Web Hosting, ISP & Telco	Web hosting and blog hosting sites, and also Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and telecommunications (phone) companies. Examples are ISP, internet access, cable modem, etc.
Web Proxies/Anonymizers	Services that allow users to hide their identities or locations. These are often used to bypass network restrictions to access content that’s blocked or filtered.
Webmail	Webmail (or web-based email) sites that enable users to send and/or receive email through a web-accessible email account from an email service provider.