Track/Log exact url called from my devices

Networking
1

Hi all
is there any way to track and record the exact URL called by my devices?

I have my child who sometimes uses my phone (or my wife’s) and I want to see what sites he browses / what searches he does

2

Hi,

is there any way to track and record the exact URL called by my devices?

the short reply to this question is “no”.

The longer answer is “kind of”. Let me explain in detail:

Since the vast majority of web traffic is encrypted nowadays, you won’t see the full URL and the actual content transferred, unless you intercept TLS - which is something IPFire does not support for various reasons.

However, the destinations’ FQDN is included in the TLS handshake and transmitted in clear text. This information remains available to you - and any other party between the client and the server, including but not limited to your ISP, backbone providers, or internet exchange operators.

To log the FQDNs, you need to

  1. enable IPFire’s built-in web proxy
  2. configure the client to use the proxy
  3. ensure it cannot establish direct connections to the internet anymore
  4. turn on logging for the web proxy (disabled by default due to privacy aspects)

I want to see what sites he browses / what searches he does

This will work for the sites (on a FQDN level), but most likely not for search engine queries, since they are all handled by the same FQDNs. However, you can enforce “safe search” for most search engines - please refer to this wiki page for further information on how to do so.

Thanks, and best regards,
Peter Müller

3

thanks @pmueller , everything is clear, I have already activated the web proxy with the “safe search” and the url filter that I will strengthen every time the child uses the phone

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