A secure web gateway is a key component of any network security solution. It provides real-time monitoring and prevents cyber attacks from entering a network by blocking access to harmful websites.
SWGs are hardware or software solutions that sit at the network edge or in the cloud and use URL filtering, proxies, SSL inspection, malware protection and more to protect users and data. They also enforce acceptable use policies and compliance.
Prevents Malware Attacks
A Secure Web Gateway (SWG) monitors internet traffic to ensure it aligns with an organization’s security policies. These devices are often installed at the network perimeter or on endpoint devices but may also be cloud-based. Regardless of location, the device monitors outbound and inbound internet access to identify threats that could impact an organization’s digital infrastructure.
URL filtering, malware detection, and SSL inspection are common SWG functions. By comparing code in downloaded files to known malware signatures, the software prevents malicious downloads and stops new and unknown cyber-attacks. Similarly, some SWG solutions use sandboxing to test suspicious code by running it in an isolated virtual environment.
By scanning outbound internet traffic for sensitive data, including social security numbers, credit card numbers, medical records, and intellectual property, SWGs can also spot and stop data loss. These gadgets can prevent this data from leaving the company, reducing the risk of illegal disclosure and intrusions like ransomware.
Finally, by keeping an eye on and responding to apps that evade firewalls and other business security controls, SWGs can help combat shadow IT. This is crucial now that more workers work remotely and use unprotected public networks. One of the main reasons for data breaches is employee irresponsibility, and SWGs can lower the risk by preventing unauthorized applications. This protects an organization’s reputation, bottom line and digital infrastructure from damage and potential loss.
Prevents Data Breach
Besides blocking malware attacks, secure web gateways prevent data breaches that can damage your reputation and bottom line. They provide granular control to ensure all the data that enters and exits your network complies with policies set by your company. This includes monitoring and preventing unauthorized transfer of sensitive information to external systems, whether encrypted or not.
A gateway also performs an in-depth inspection of all web traffic. This can include examining all the content, connections, and apps internal users use and applying business-acceptable policies. It can also scan all files and attachments to detect the presence of malicious codes or signs of phishing.
As more organizations adopt remote work, a safe web gateway is critical to safeguarding the devices and data of mobile workers. Most SWGs offer SSL inspection to help protect against cyberattacks and threats. They can analyze and inspect encrypted web traffic to ensure it doesn’t contain malicious code, or if it does, detect it before it is downloaded.
This is possible because the SWG works as a proxy between the endpoint and the Internet, terminating and emulating traffic. It can also provide distributed enforcement based on the workforce’s needs without deploying on-premise appliances, VPNs, or extended network hops to distant proxies. It can also decrypt and inspect web traffic locally, avoiding the need for costly hardware or time-consuming updates.
Prevents Data Loss
As the world shifts towards remote workplace settings, a secure web gateway can help prevent data breaches that could lead to financial loss and damaged reputation. Because SWGs require remote employees to access the Internet through them, these tools can block a wide range of threats from reaching internal networks and devices.
Essentially acting like a firewall, secure web gateways monitor network traffic and ensure it matches the organization’s security policies. This is done through various means, with URL filtering often being the first step. This checks the websites in real time and blocks those that match up with a list of known dangerous URLs. More advanced solutions include sandboxing, which tests for malware by running potentially malicious code in a controlled environment to ensure it does not contain any hidden viruses.
Finally, many SWGs provide data loss prevention (DLP) functionality that filters outbound traffic for patterns in PII and other sensitive information. This can prevent users from inadvertently releasing corporate data through various channels, including email attachments and web downloads.
This feature is increasingly important as cybercriminals have become skilled at web impersonation, creating fake websites to lure unsuspecting employees into clicking malicious links and divulging personal information. Some providers now offer web isolation, which routes suspicious sites to a remote browser that runs them in a read-only mode to protect users from potential data loss.
Prevents Identity Theft
Many cyber thieves use phishing tactics to access sensitive or confidential information such as passwords, account numbers, Social Security numbers or credit card numbers. The hacker can then use this to take over the victim’s online accounts or to commit financial fraud.
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) prevent identity theft by inspecting web traffic, looking for malicious code and preventing users from downloading malware. They can be on-premise hardware appliances, cloud-delivered solutions or as software. SWGs are deployed between internal endpoints and the Internet to monitor all outbound and inbound traffic. They enforce policies around who, what, where and when internal endpoints can interact with the Internet, ensuring all content and applications comply with organizational policy.
SWGs can inspect all Internet traffic, including encrypted data, examining web page contents in real-time and removing the malicious code to deliver a safe website version to the user. Additionally, they can check whether files downloaded to or from the network contain malicious code and examine email attachments and web downloads in isolation, avoiding attacks via file weaponization.
Modern SWGs can integrate with zero-day anti-malware solutions to detect new or unknown viruses, preventing attacks and keeping the network clean. They can also be combined with the solution of choice for monitoring the network, such as Security and Event Management (SEM), providing a central point for detecting and reporting issues.
