A secure web gateway (SWG) is a security solution that protects your business from cyber threats. It provides granular control over internet access on your network by inspecting inline traffic and standing between all incoming and outgoing data. It filters out malicious websites, viruses, and malware, preventing them from infecting your device or network. It also prevents sensitive data from leaving your organization by blocking unauthorized exfiltration.
Security
The secure web gateway (SWG) filters by blocking malware encountered in user-initiated Internet traffic and enforcing network and application policies. It also prevents data exfiltration from exiting the network, helping enterprises to meet regulatory compliance standards. A check point security gateway uses a blocklist of known bad websites to deny user access. They also scan network traffic for signs of malware by examining the data being passed through to and from a website and comparing it against a database of code signatures for known malicious software programs. Some SWGs also use sandboxing, putting potentially dangerous code into a controlled environment to see how it behaves before allowing or disallowing it. Many SWGs also perform content inspection, looking at unencrypted to-and-from traffic and denying entry to sites with content that does not conform to corporate policies. This helps reduce the risk of attacks targeting employees working remotely on their devices by ensuring they only connect to trusted websites and applications.
Scalability
As employees are increasingly mobile, a secure web gateway allows users to connect to the internet from home, remote office, or coffee shop without exposing the organization’s sensitive information. With cloud-based applications and more distributed work environments, enterprises face more malware and cyber threats. This is why having an SWG in place is more important than ever. A lack of secure network access can leave an enterprise vulnerable. This is especially true for employees working remotely or from a different office. Using a SWG efficiently ensures remote workers have the same security controls as office-based staff. Located between the company network and the open web, an SWG can monitor any traffic from or to the organization and block anything that poses a risk. This can include downloading files containing malware, visiting malicious sites, or simply clicking on the wrong link. It also enables IT teams to enforce the rules they want their employees to follow. This is an essential function that any cybersecurity stack should have in place.
Flexibility
A secure web gateway (SWG) provides layered security to an organization’s network. An organization’s internal user Internet traffic goes through the SWG, which filters out dangerous content and blocks unauthorized behavior. Many online threats use pop-ups or phony websites that look identical to legitimate ones, enticing users to input their login credentials or share sensitive data. An SWG can detect and block these malicious attacks by analyzing web application usage and using a granular rule set. Additionally, an SWG can be configured to monitor and analyze encrypted traffic. By decrypting and inspecting this data, an SWG can offer visibility into rogue or compromised applications, even when not part of the corporate firewall. This feature allows IT teams to enforce a consistent security policy across all devices, regardless of the web app type or location. Lastly, a cloud-based SWG eliminates the need to deploy hardware appliances and allows for easy scaling, reducing complexity and cost.
Cost-effectiveness
A secure web gateway is a security tool that filters out unsafe content in company network traffic to prevent cyberattacks and data breaches. It works like a water filter, inspecting all inline Internet traffic and blocking websites or applications that do not meet the organization’s security policies. Using a proxy architecture, a secure web gateway (SWG) terminates and emulates all inbound connections and outbound requests. This allows it to detect and analyze all packets, including headers and message bodies. If a request is harmful, the SWG will block it or send it to a sandbox for analysis and detonation. This allows a business to monitor how employees use popular web applications and cloud-based tools such as Slack. Moreover, it also provides visibility into an effective response to shadow IT. In this way, it reduces the risk of a costly cyberattack or data breach and increases productivity. A gateway solution can be deployed as a software-based application or hardware appliance at the network’s edge or endpoints.
Convenience
In the digital age, when employees work from anywhere, network devices connect to multiple clouds and data centers, and malware attacks often target remote users, cybersecurity solutions that protect organizations from web-borne threats are essential. That’s where a secure web gateway (SWG) comes in. SWGs operate at the edge of networks, requiring all web traffic to pass through them before it can reach employees’ devices. This means all online pop-ups and phony websites must first go through the SWG, which can block these malicious requests and prevent the transfer of malware to users’ devices. Some SWGs also use sandboxing to test potentially harmful code in an isolated environment before allowing it to enter the organization’s network. They can also encrypt web traffic to reduce the risk of cyberattacks that spy on, tamper with, or steal data in transit. Using a top-rated secure web gateway, IT administrators can get powerful protection from malware and data breaches, control the apps employees use, and optimize network performance. They can also rely on a SWG to create and manage robust, context-aware policies for web access that meet compliance requirements.