The growth of cloud computing, software as a service (SaaS) and an increasingly mobile workforce has made it difficult for businesses to protect themselves from cyberattacks. That’s why it’s critical to implement a secure web gateway to defend against a wide range of threats.
Most secure web gateways are software or hardware-based solutions installed at the network edge. They perform various functions, including URL filtering, visibility, malicious content inspection, etc.
Prevention
Cyber attacks are:
- A significant threat to business success.
- Potentially damaging a company’s reputation.
- Customer satisfaction.
- Finances.
The best way to avoid these attacks is by protecting your network and systems with the proper security measures.
Keeping up-to-date software, installing the latest updates, and using antivirus programs are all essential to preventing cyberattacks. Also, ensuring your employees are properly trained can help prevent an attack from occurring in the first place.
Implementing a solid firewall is one of the easiest ways to protect your business from cyber threats. Firewalls act at the software or hardware level to keep unwanted outside forces out and control incoming traffic based on specific security parameters.
Another method of protecting your business is to use a secure web gateway. These devices prevent malicious traffic that could lead to malware infection or network intrusions.
The gateways terminate and proxy web traffic (ports 80 and 443), examining it through various security checks, including URL filtering, advanced machine learning, antivirus scanning, sandboxing, data loss prevention, cloud access security brokers, and other integrated technologies.
A secure web gateway can detect and block advanced malware, zero-day exploits, and other security breaches. Its advanced detection engine utilizes signature, machine learning, sandboxing, and other technologies to protect against malware, phishing, and malicious JavaScript.
Detection
Cybercriminals target enterprise networks to steal data and hold companies’ systems hostage with ransomware. They often use zero-day malware to infect endpoints and steal access credentials.
A business’s perimeter security is the first defense against cyber attacks. However, knowing that even the best cybersecurity tools can’t protect your organization from cybercriminals is essential.
In addition to traditional antivirus, a secure gateway security platform can prevent malware from entering an organization’s network by blocking malicious websites and scanning traffic for suspicious code. Some security gateways also use sandboxing to test malware by running it in an emulated environment.
URL filtering is a common feature of secure web gateways (SWGs). It scans network traffic for known bad URLs and blocks access to them.
Some SWGs also provide threat intelligence to keep up with the latest malware threats. These capabilities allow businesses to quickly identify and patch new threats while sharing security intelligence with other organizations for a coordinated response.
Another essential protection feature of secure web gateways is data loss prevention (DLP). DLP detects sensitive corporate data leaving a company’s network and redacts it to prevent it from being stolen.
Today’s organizations increasingly rely on web-based applications and cloud services for day-to-day operations. These applications require granular, multi-factor authentication to ensure users can access only what they need.
Response
A cyber attack can be devastating to a business. However, it can also be prevented by a proactive approach to security. This can include implementing network security monitoring, training employees on best practices for Internet use, and ensuring every device has the latest software patches.
Secure web gateways (SWG) are vital to enterprise network protection. They work by enforcing corporate policies and blocking network traffic from hazardous websites such as trojans, adware, spyware, and malware.
Some of the features offered by SWGs are URL filtering, application control, data loss prevention, antivirus, and SSL inspection. They can also block unapproved uploads to cloud services and prohibit access to prohibited data sources.
As workforces become more distributed and organizations rely more heavily on SaaS solutions, gateway security platforms are growing in popularity. These technologies can help companies monitor network traffic, detect suspicious traffic, and respond to attacks faster and more efficiently than ever.
The security of your network is critical, so you need a robust security infrastructure that can protect against advanced threats and keep you safe. It’s essential to protect your company’s sensitive data. You need a powerful gateway security platform that offers continuous upgrades to protect against emerging threats and reduces IT costs and complexity.
Automation
Automation has become an essential part of cyber security as it enables businesses to detect and respond to cyber attacks on an efficient and cost-effective basis. Automating cyber security tasks helps ensure that security teams don’t get bogged down with repetitive or manual work, which reduces the workload on the team and allows them to focus on more strategic work, such as threat hunting and incident response.
Security automation technology uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to collect and process data rapidly. This makes it easier to identify and respond to potential threats, which in turn, helps to prevent attacks from occurring in the first place.
Automating security processes also helps ensure that business operations aren’t impacted by malicious activity, which is particularly crucial for large enterprises with many resources. This also enables companies to maintain compliance with cybersecurity regulations such as HIPAA and PCI-DSS.
Some secure web gateways have several layers of automated security to help protect against various malware types. These include URL filtering, sandboxing, malware code detection, and data leak prevention.
While these features are standard, other automation technologies can be incorporated into a gateway’s architecture to provide greater flexibility and scalability. These include integration with other solutions for further inspections, advanced detection and response, and improved application-level control.
