A secure web gateway (SWG) acts as a checkpoint in line with all internet traffic, inspecting and blocking malicious content. It also prevents malware infections and enforces compliance policies to keep users, data, and businesses safe. With workforces becoming increasingly distributed, SWGs are critical to protecting every device and location. The best ones offer protection anywhere, enabling employees to safely authenticate and surf the web.
Security
What is a secure web gateway? A secure web gateway protects an organization from security threats and infections by enforcing company policy and filtering Internet-bound traffic. A secure web gateway is an on-premise or cloud-delivered network security service. A secure web gateway is essential to a business’s layered security strategy. Modern trends like a growing reliance on cloud computing and remote workforces put intense pressure on organizational networks.
Additionally, cyberattacks are at an all-time high, and “crimeware as a service” makes it easy for attackers to get their hands on tools that can have a material impact. An SWG protects the network perimeter by blocking malware attacks and unwanted traffic. It also inspects outgoing data to ensure it doesn’t contain sensitive information that could leave the organization, such as social security numbers, credit card information, or medical records. Some SWGs offer data loss protection (DLP) functionality natively or through integration.
In contrast, others check outgoing data with a database of known website URL categories or perform an MITM for SSL/TLS inspection. A good SWG constantly monitors web traffic and incorporates new attack signatures into threat intelligence to keep up with evolving attack methods. It should also be able to identify and analyze the relationships between files, records, emails, and endpoints to detect patterns and correlations of attacks targeting an organization. It should also bypass the performance degradation from decrypting SSL/TLS traffic, which legacy firewalls and other security solutions require. In addition, it should be able to block P2P applications used for sharing music, movies, games, and other types of files.
Visibility
A gateway identifies threats in real-time by scanning the content of internet-bound traffic and checking for malware or suspicious websites. It also enables an organization to implement policies for controlling who, when, where, and how users access the web from internal endpoints and cloud applications (including SaaS). A good SWG will inspect all traffic, including encrypted connections, to identify and block attacks before they can enter the network. SWGs have evolved beyond proxying to incorporate URL reputation and sandboxing technologies that allow them to check for malicious code in context before allowing a user to see a webpage. This is important because cyber criminals constantly adjust their attack methods to get around filters, such as using HTML smuggling to bypass legacy URL reputation and evasion solutions. SWGs can be deployed on-premise in hardware appliances or the cloud to scale as a business grows. They can be integrated with other security solutions, such as CASBs, to strengthen the overall security stance of an enterprise by analyzing all traffic at once, delivering consistent control across endpoints, users, networks, and clouds. The average data breach takes 280 days to detect, so a good SWG should include a robust Data Loss Prevention (DLP) feature. This can redact sensitive information, such as 16-digit credit card numbers, to prevent data leaks from leaving the organization’s network.
Flexibility
A secure web gateway (SWG) is essential to a business’s layered security strategy. It filters malware encountered by user-initiated Internet traffic, protecting the organization from data breaches and enforcing corporate policies. SWGs protect against cyberattacks by preventing unauthorized data exports from the network, blocking sensitive website traffic, and analyzing encrypted connections to detect data exfiltration attempts. In addition, they help prevent data breaches by logging a wide range of activities and threats so that administrators can be alerted to any potential problems and track and analyze network trends over time.
In addition, a SWG can be implemented as either an on-premise appliance or a virtual solution and deployed in both physical and cloud environments. Many organizations also use a hybrid approach, combining on-premises solutions with cloud-delivered tools as they transition to a cloud-based security architecture. SWGs are a critical tool because as the workplace becomes increasingly mobile and more employees work remotely, they need a secure way to access their business applications. This is where SWGs come in because they offer a way for remote workers to connect and collaborate with their peers while remaining within the security perimeter of their company’s data center and networks. In addition, SWGs provide essential protection against the growing number of “crimeware as a service” options that allow anyone to create and sell high-quality malware kits for a relatively small amount.
Compliance
With more and more workplaces going virtual, your employees may work outside the office in a remote location or even on an unsecured public network. This trend has led to an increase in cyberattacks, and with data being stored virtually rather than on a hardware network in the office, it can be easier for malware infections to spread and cause havoc. This is where a secure gateway can help. A gateway can inspect traffic, identify threats, and apply security policies to protect the organization and its users. It can also protect devices connecting to the Internet, such as tablets, smartphones, and laptops. Gateways can block access to certain websites or applications, such as P2P (peer-to-peer) programs that share music, movies, and games, preventing them from entering the network. Gateways can also filter content to prevent unauthorized use of the organization’s resources and improve worker productivity. Depending on the rules configured by IT managers, they can limit the number of times an employee can download a file or block them altogether. They can monitor and log user activity, threats, and policy violations. This helps ensure the organization complies with internal policies, government regulations, and industry standards. It is important to remember that a gateway does not replace a firewall but can work alongside it to provide network protection.
*This is a collaboration post
