How good is your secure web gateway? What are the indications that help you know if it is? This blog here will explore that topic. So, read on.
What Is Secure Web Gateway?
To know how good your secure web gateway (SWG) is, you first need to have a good understanding of the purpose of an SWG. It is a device that offers secure access to your private network. It allows the users on your public network access to the private network. Further, it also allows you to control the kind of access they get while they are on the private network.
Then, the primary function of a secure web gateway is to provide security to the private network through authentication, authorization, and accounting. It allows only authorized users to gain access to private resources by validating user credentials. It can also limit or control access to specific resources.
Moreover, a typical SWG looks something like this:
- User requests for services are received by load balancers. It then redirects them to the web gateway for authentication and authorization.
- The user credentials are then verified against an authentication server. If the user passes authentication, then he/she gets a session ID and authorization information.
- The user is then redirected back to the load balancer, where he/she can now access the private network resources using this information.
- The next time this user wants those same services, he/she will go through this process again. But won’t have to re-authenticate themselves since they already have this information stored locally on their computers (in cookies).
This process is called one-time password lifetime (OTP). So, this is where an OTP system comes into play. It is a temporary password that can be used only once to authenticate a system or application. This helps prevent hackers from using a stolen password if they have acquired it by hacking.
How, then, would you know if your SWG is good?
How Good Is Your Secure Web Gateway?
To know whether your SWG is good or not, you need to determine if it is achieving its primary purpose. Since the primary purpose of an SWG is to provide security, it would be best to see if your SWG has any security vulnerabilities.
Now, here’s how you can do that:
1. Check for public vulnerabilities on search engines.
2. Check for private vulnerabilities by penetration testing.
3. Check for private vulnerabilities by internal testing.
4. Check for private vulnerabilities by using a vulnerability scanner.
5. There are also some good books on securing your Web Gateways
6. Use tools like Nmap (network mapper) or nikto (Web server scanner).
In doing these steps, you can be able to know if your SWG is good or not. If it is, then it will have fewer vulnerabilities. If there are vulnerabilities, then you can then know for sure that your SWG needs some improvement.
Final Thoughts
The conclusion is that, if you want to know how good your secure web gateway is, perform the steps mentioned above. This will give you a clear idea of how good or bad it is.