What is an open-source secure web gateway? How does it allow organizations to securely access their applications from anywhere in the world?
Open Source Secure Web Gateway
An open Source is computer software whose source code is freely available. The word “open” means anyone can modify, copy and redistribute the software. Open source software is usually developed as a collaboration between individuals and the community.
It is a very cost-effective way to develop applications because there is a lot of flexibility in the development process and implementation. There are so many open source projects available on Sourceforge, Google Code, GitHub, and other online sources. A web gateway is a device or system that protects an organization’s web applications against hackers, viruses, spyware, and other malicious attacks.
This is by filtering traffic or blocking it entirely according to specified rules. Open source web gateways are free to use, modify, and distribute under GNU General Public License (GPL) with no license fees. In addition, this open-source web gateway gives you the flexibility to tweak its code according to your requirements.
Open Source Secure Web Gateway Software
There are several open source secure web gateway software available on the internet but I have mentioned some of them below:
Barracuda NG Firewall
Barracuda NG Firewall is one of the most popular open-source secure web gateway software. This is by thousands of organizations worldwide. It comes with many powerful features like URL filtering, IP filtering, content filtering, intrusion prevention system (IPS), anti-virus protection, etc.
Also, it supports IPv6 so you can configure your firewall to accept traffic over IPv6 protocol as well as IPv4 protocol. Barracuda NG Firewall supports multiple platforms like Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows operating systems. So it can protect your organization’s applications regardless of the OS they run on.
IPCop
IPCop is another popular free open source secure web gateway software. This allows you to protect your organization’s web applications from hackers, viruses, and other malicious threats. So, with this, you can control their traffic flow into and out of your network through network address translation(NAT) and proxy server functionality.
This software works on Linux-based operating systems only so if your organization uses Windows or Mac OS X. This is its primary operating system then you have searched for other open-source secure web gateway software.
OmniGuard Web Filter OGF and SquidGuard
OmniGuard Web Filter is an open-source web filtering solution that helps organizations to protect their web applications from malicious attacks. This software is available in two editions, free and paid. The free edition comes with basic features like URL filtering, IP filtering, etc. However, it does not support antivirus protection, content filtering, and intrusion prevention system (IPS), which you can find in the paid edition.
SquidGuard is an open-source proxy server that is used to filter traffic flow into and out of your network. This is through network address translation (NAT) and proxy server functionality. Also, it only supports Linux-based operating systems so if you want to use it on another OS then you have to install Linux on that machine.
SquidGuard is an open source project released under GPL license so anyone can modify, copy and redistribute the software for free. With the help of SquidGuard, you can prevent specific machines or networks from accessing certain websites or resources on your network by configuring iptables rules in your Linux machine.