The Firewall module helps you control access to your chat website by enforcing rules based on IP addresses & browser fingerprinting. Browser fingerprinting is a technique used to track and identify users based on the unique characteristics of their web browsers and devices. The ‘Ban Fingerprint‘ action will mark the fingerprint as banned in the database, and Grupo will automatically ban all accounts that are accessed or created using a browser with the banned fingerprint.

Note: Browser fingerprints of site adminstrators are not recorded.

How to enable or disable the Firewall ?

  1. Click on the Menu.
  2. Select Modules from the side navigation menu.
  3. Choose Firewall
  4. Locate “Status” and select your desired option.
  5. Click the “Update” button.

How to enable or disable the Fingerprint Module ?

  1. Click on the Menu.
  2. Select Modules from the side navigation menu.
  3. Choose Firewall
  4. Locate “Fingerprint Module” and select your desired option.
  5. Click the “Update” button.

How to Ban or Unban a user based on their Fingerprint ?

  1. Click on Menu.
  2. Select Site Users from the side navigation menu.
  3. Choose “View All”.
  4. Click the three dots icon next to the user you want to ban/unban.
  5. Select “Ban Fingerprint” to block a site user based on their stored fingerprint, and “Unban Fingerprint” to lift the ban.
  6. A confirmation dialog will appear. Select ‘Yes’ to confirm.

Note: When you ban a fingerprint, it will ban the associated user account, restrict all IP addresses the user has used to access Grupo, and ban any other online accounts linked to the same fingerprint. When you unban a fingerprint, it will unban the associated user account, unban the fingerprints registered to the user, and lift the ban on the IP addresses the user used to access the system.

How to Ban or Unban all IP Addresses that a user has accessed from ?

  1. Click on Menu.
  2. Select Site Users from the side navigation menu.
  3. Choose “View All”.
  4. Click the three dots icon next to the user you want to ban/unban.
  5. Select “Ban IP Addresses” to ban a site user ip addresses and “Unban IP Addresses” to unban them.
  6. A confirmation dialog will appear. Select ‘Yes’ to confirm.

How to Block an IP Address in the Firewall ?

  1. Click on the Menu.
  2. Select Modules from the side navigation menu.
  3. Choose Firewall
  4. Enter the IP addresses you want to block in the blacklist field.
  5. Click the “Update” button.

Note: If you are using an Apache server, you can also block IP addresses using the .htaccess file.