A secure web gateway monitors the Internet for malware and suspicious data. They can also stop sensitive data from leaving the network by scanning outbound web traffic for patterns that may match social security numbers, credit card information, medical records, and intellectual property.
SWG technology becomes essential to a layered cybersecurity strategy as organizations shift towards cloud-based implementations and distributed workforces.
Prevent Data Exfiltration
A gateway security platform prevents data from leaving the organization’s network by filtering incoming and outgoing traffic. Whether deployed as hardware at the edge or software on endpoints or in the cloud, an SWG acts as a proxy for web requests and inspects incoming and outgoing content to ensure it meets corporate standards and policies. This helps protect the organization’s intellectual property from being stolen by hackers and other external threats, such as malware that “calls home” to report information.
Insider attacks can also lead to unauthorized data exfiltration, where employees upload sensitive information and company assets to external networks via USB drives or other devices. Then, cybercriminals can steal this information or sell it to other criminals for monetary gain.
An SWG incorporating zero-day detection can help organizations detect these internal attacks before they cause serious damage. By integrating with zero-day threat protection solutions, an SWG can scan for malicious code in real time and remove it from the web page before it is delivered to users. This helps ensure that employees can access websites without being exposed to hidden malware. A gateway designed for today’s distributed workforce can also offer remote browser isolation (RBI) and zero trust network access (ZTNA), which provide secure connections for employees no matter what device or location they are working from.
Block Malware
As the name suggests, gateway security platforms guard against malware and other cyber attacks from entering corporate networks and endpoints. They filter Internet traffic and block access to threatening websites, data-stealing apps, and more. This helps protect employees working from home, the office, or on the go and keeps sensitive data such as credit card numbers, social security information, and medical records out of hackers’ hands.
A secure web gateway (SWG) can be software or hardware at the network perimeter, on individual devices, or hosted in the cloud. Whatever deployment model an SWG uses, all incoming and outgoing Internet traffic must travel through it first. This helps ensure that every piece of data is inspected to determine whether it meets established security policies.
Many SWGs feature URL filtering, advanced machine learning, and sandboxing to detect malicious code and other threats. Some even decrypt and inspect SSL/TLS encrypted Internet traffic to identify hidden threats that would otherwise go undetected.
In addition to blocking malware and other external threats, gateway security platforms help companies comply with internal and regulatory security standards and policies. This includes data loss prevention (DLP) which reads outgoing internet traffic to prevent confidential company data such as credit card numbers, customer information, medical records, and intellectual property from leaving the network.
Monitor Internet Traffic
A secure web gateway (SWG) inspects all Internet traffic to ensure it doesn’t violate established security policies, just as a security guard would check an individual’s belongings at a physical security checkpoint. All incoming and outgoing traffic passes through the SWG before reaching users, allowing administrators to control what goes into or out of their network.
SWGs offer a wide range of features that can be tailored to an organization’s unique security needs, such as malware detection and filtering. This is particularly important as cyber criminals have become adept at web impersonation, meaning they can create websites that look authentic but are malicious. If an employee attempts to visit a harmful website that an SWG blocks, it will be flagged and logged so that the IT team can take action.
In addition to URL filtering, SWGs also detect malware by analyzing code. They can do this either in-line or offline, using signature, sandboxing, and machine learning to ensure that malware is detected before it can enter the network. This approach is particularly effective as some types of malware can bypass traditional firewalls and antivirus protection systems.
Additionally, an SWG can detect when confidential data is leaving a company-controlled environment and redact or block that information to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. This can include sensitive financial information such as credit card numbers and social security numbers, as well as personal data like health records and customer data.
Encryption
A gateway security platform can provide encryption, which helps protect the data your employees send over the Internet. This feature is especially important for a remote workforce.
It also prevents malicious code from escaping into your internal networks, which can lead to ransomware infections and other cyber attacks. A secure web gateway can be configured to scan for malware, phishing sites, and other types of web traffic that could potentially threaten your company’s systems or data.
In addition to blocking malware from entering your network, an SWG can block weblock web content revealing information like social security numbers, credit card numbers, and medical records. This is known as data loss prevention (DLP). An SWG can do this through its built-in functionality, integration with other solutions, or partnering with cloud access security brokers to perform these inspections.
An SWG consists of hardware, software, or a virtual appliance at the edge of your internal network, acting as a proxy between the Internet and your internal users. This gives the SWG visibility and control of the threats that could otherwise escape firewalls or other security procedures. It can detect and avoid emerging risks by continuously scanning for identifying marks, signatures, and dangerous codes hidden within web content. It also monitors all activity across the entire Internet.
