Editing Whitelist

{{short description|Practice of allowing people or entities, generally}}
{{More citations needed|date=July 2020}}
A '''whitelist''' or '''allowlist''' is a list or register of entities that are being provided a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. Entities on the list will be accepted, approved and/or recognized. Whitelisting is the reverse of [[Blacklist (computing)|blacklisting]], the practice of identifying entities that are denied, unrecognized, or ostracized.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

==Email whitelists==
[[Spam filter]]s often include the ability to "whitelist" certain sender IP addresses, email addresses or domain names to protect their email from being rejected or sent to a junk mail folder. These can be manually maintained by the user<ref>e.g. [[Amazon Kindle|Kindle]] users control the whitelist for email access. Besides Amazon itself, only e-mail addresses whitelisted by the device's registered owner can send content ("personal documents") to that device.</ref> or system administrator - but can also refer to externally maintained whitelist services.{{cn|date=July 2024}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=IP and domain reputation |url=https://www.spamhaus.org/resource-hub/ip-domain-reputation/ |website=Spamhaus Project}}</ref>

===Non-commercial whitelists===
Non-commercial whitelists are operated by various non-profit organizations, ISPs, and others interested in blocking spam. Rather than paying fees, the sender must pass a series of tests; for example, their email server must not be an [[open relay]] and have a [[static IP address]]. The operator of the whitelist may remove a server from the list if complaints are received.{{cn|date=July 2024}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Spamhaus' Blocklists |url=https://www.spamhaus.org/blocklists/}}</ref>

===Commercial whitelists===
Commercial whitelists are a system by which an [[Internet service provider]] allows someone to bypass [[spam filter]]s when sending [[email]] messages to its subscribers, in return for a pre-paid fee, either an annual or a per-message fee. A sender can then be more confident that their messages have reached recipients without being blocked, or having links or images stripped out of them, by spam filters. The purpose of commercial whitelists is to allow companies to reliably reach their customers by email.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

== Advertising whitelist ==
Many websites rely on ads as a source of revenue, but the use of [[ad blocking|ad blockers]] is increasingly common.{{cn|date=July 2024}} Websites that detect an adblocker in use often ask for it to be disabled - or their site to be "added to the whitelist"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/adblock/instructions/#18c6e42f2739|title=Adblock Instructions|website=Forbes|access-date=2017-12-09}}</ref> - a standard feature of most adblockers.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

==Network whitelists==
{{see also|internet filter}}

===LAN whitelists===
A use for whitelists is in [[local area network]] (LAN) security. Many network admins set up [[MAC address]] whitelists, or a MAC address filter, to control who is allowed on their networks. This is used when encryption is not a practical solution or in tandem with encryption. However, it's sometimes ineffective because a [[MAC spoofing|MAC address can be faked]].{{cn|date=July 2024}}

===IP whitelist===
[[Firewall (computing)|Firewalls]] can usually be configured to only allow data-traffic from/to certain (ranges of) IP-addresses.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

===Application whitelists===
One approach in combating viruses and malware is to whitelist software which is considered safe to run, blocking all others.<ref>John Harrison, ''Enhancing Network Security By Preventing User-Initiated Malware Execution'', Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Technology: Coding and Computing (ITCC'05) (Wireless Ad Hoc/Sensor Networks and Network Security Track), Volume II - Volume 02; pages 597-602; IEEE Computer Society Washington, DC, USA 2005.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=SANS Institute: Reading Room - Analyst Papers |url=http://www.sans.org/reading_room/analysts_program/McAfee_09_App_Whitelisting.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302194448/http://www.sans.org/reading_room/analysts_program/McAfee_09_App_Whitelisting.pdf |archive-date=2012-03-02 |access-date=27 August 2018 |website=www.sans.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=160433|title=Dark Reading - Security - Protect The Business - Enable Access|work=Dark Reading|access-date=2008-10-02|archive-date=2019-12-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212161105/http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=160433|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Application-Whitelisting-Gains-Traction/|title=Application Whitelisting Gains Traction|work=eweek.com|date=25 September 2008}}</ref> This is particularly attractive in a corporate environment, where there are typically already restrictions on what software is approved.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

Leading providers of application whitelisting technology include [[Carbon Black (company)|Bit9]], [[Velox (company)|Velox]], [[McAfee]], [[Lumension Security|Lumension]], ThreatLocker, Airlock Digital and SMAC.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://security-architect.blogspot.com/2014/02/lessons-learned-from-target-attack.html|title = Lessons Learned from Target Breach|date = February 8, 2014|access-date = July 18, 2014|website = Security-Architect Blog|publisher = Dan Blum|last = Blum|first = Dan}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web
  | url = http://news.cnet.com/8301-10789_3-9994679-57.html
  | title = Will you be ditching your antivirus app anytime soon?
  | last = Vamosi
  | first = Robert
  | publisher = [[CNET]]
  | date = 2008-07-21
  | access-date = 2010-03-22
  | archive-date = 2012-10-24
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121024134536/http://news.cnet.com/8301-10789_3-9994679-57.html
  | url-status = dead
  }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web
  | url = https://smac.iqp.tech
  | title = SMAC - application whitelist platform
  | last = Korobov
  | first = EVGENIY
  | publisher = [[iqp]]
  | date = 2020-07-27
  | access-date =2020-07-27
}}</ref>

On Microsoft Windows, recent versions include [[AppLocker]], which allows administrators to control which executable files are denied or allowed to execute. With AppLocker, administrators are able to create rules based on file names, publishers or file location that will allow certain files to execute. Rules can apply to individuals or groups. Policies are used to group users into different enforcement levels. For example, some users can be added to a report-only policy that will allow administrators to understand the impact before moving that user to a higher enforcement level.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

Linux systems typically have [[AppArmor]] and [[SE Linux]] features available which can be used to effectively block all applications which are not explicitly whitelisted, and commercial products are also available.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Cooprider |first1=Nathan |title=Live Whitelisting! |url=https://www.threatstack.com/blog/whitelisting-is-dead-long-live-whitelisting |publisher=Threat Stack |access-date=20 December 2018|date=2016-02-03 }}</ref>

On HP-UX introduced a feature called "HP-UX Whitelisting" on 11iv3 version.<ref>{{cite web |title=HP-UX Whitelisting |url=https://h20392.www2.hpe.com/portal/swdepot/displayProductInfo.do?productNumber=WhiteListInf |publisher=HP |access-date=20 December 2018}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Wiktionary|whitelist|allowlist|white list|whitelisting}}
*[[Blacklisting]]
*[[Blacklist (computing)]]
*[[Blackballing]]
*[[Closed platform]]
*[[DNSWL]], whitelisting based on DNS
*[[Opt-in]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Antivirus software]]
[[Category:Blacklisting]]
[[Category:Databases]]
[[Category:Malware]]
[[Category:Social privilege]]
[[Category:Social status]]
[[Category:Spamming]]