7. Access

📖 Overview

The Access module in ShieldsGuard allows administrators to control and restrict incoming traffic based on geolocation, Internet Service Providers (ISP), and ASN (Autonomous System Number). It functions as a policy engine to regulate who can reach your system based on where they come from and who provides their connection.

This module is essential for:

• Blocking high-risk geographies

• Allowing only selected ISPs

• Reducing noise from unwanted regions or anonymous networks

• Enforcing compliance and regional access policies

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📌 Access Control Methods

Access rules in this module are divided into three powerful and independent filters:

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🗺️ 7.1 Block Country Entry

Purpose: Block or allow access based on the visitor's country.

Functionality:

• Select countries from a dropdown list.

• Add them to your block list or allow list.

• Traffic from blocked countries is denied immediately at the edge.

Use Cases:

• Block regions associated with botnet traffic.

• Enforce geopolitical or compliance boundaries.

• Allow only specific country-level user bases (e.g., national infrastructure).

🌐 Geolocation is determined by IP — updated via public geo-IP databases.

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🛰️ 7.2 Permission by ISP Provider Name

Purpose: Allow or block access based on the ISP name (e.g., Turk Telekom, Comcast, China Telecom).

Functionality:

• Enter ISP names as they appear in resolved IP data.

• Apply rule to allow only trusted networks or block known problematic ones.

Use Cases:

• Restrict access to enterprise-level traffic from known commercial providers.

• Block residential proxies or cloud ISP abuse sources.

• Whitelist research institutions or infrastructure providers.

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#️⃣ 7.3 Authorization by ISP Provider Number (ASN)

Purpose: Enforce access control at the Autonomous System Number (ASN) level — the unique identifier assigned to ISPs and large network blocks.

Functionality:

• Search for and add ASN numbers to your allow or block list.

• Highly precise — ensures targeting entire IP allocations tied to an organization.

Use Cases:

• Block all traffic from anonymous VPN or hosting services (e.g., ASN: 15169 – Google Cloud, ASN: 8075 – Microsoft Azure)

• Only allow traffic from ASN of government or telecom partners

• Stop persistent attacks coming from a specific ASN

✅ ASN data provides more granularity than basic geolocation and helps isolate infrastructure-based threats.

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🎛️ Configuration Summary

Access Filter	Granularity	Recommendation
Country	Broad	Use to restrict region-level access
ISP Name	Mid-level	Use for enterprise allowlists or proxy blocks
ASN Number	Fine-grained	Ideal for blocking entire provider networks

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🧠 Best Practices

• Combine filters for layered access logic: Block high-risk countries + disallow known VPN providers.

• Use ASN blocking when IP rotation makes per-IP filtering ineffective.

• Always allow trusted ISPs or infrastructure providers explicitly.

• Monitor Access Logs to refine access rules over time.

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🎯 The Access module is your traffic gatekeeper — allowing only the right users from the right networks, and blocking everyone else before they even touch your system.