A secure web gateway is your worst enemy, Web gateways are the front door to your company’s network. They provide a way for employees to connect to the Internet from their desktops or laptops.
A secure web gateway is essential for protecting your organization’s information. Unfortunately, many companies fail to implement them properly. Here are some ways to ensure that your web gateway is secure.
1. Secure Web Gateway is Your Worst Enemy, Configure it properly
You wouldn’t buy a car without taking it for a test drive, so why do most companies deploy web gateways without testing them first? It’s important to understand how the web gateway works, which will help you know how to configure it properly. Test it from every angle and ensure that your employees can’t bypass the gateway or access unauthorized sites.
2. Gateways aren’t invulnerable
Nothing is hack-proof, so you must assume that your web gateway has security vulnerabilities. If a vulnerability is discovered, install the latest security updates immediately because hackers will exploit any vulnerability they can find.
You can defend against the latest vulnerabilities by deploying multiple layers of security, which is called defence in depth. For example, if your web gateway is vulnerable to one type of attack, deploy another type of security protection. For instance, anti-malware software—to prevent attacks from succeeding.
3. Don’t rely on HTTPS alone
HTTPS encrypts traffic between the client and server to protect confidential information from being intercepted and read by unauthorized users. However, this doesn’t mean you can ignore other types of security. Hackers are getting better at breaking HTTPS encryption. The only way to protect yourself from this type of attack is by using multiple layers of security. For instance, SSL decryption along with anti-malware and content filtering.
4. Use SSL decryption
SSL decryption protects your company from another type of attack that hackers use to steal information by using fake certificates. This attack is called a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack because it sits between the client and server. It fools them into thinking they’re communicating with each other when they’re not. SSL decryption prevents MITM attacks by validating certificates and alerting administrators if they’re not valid—before encrypted data is passed on to your network where it can be accessed by an attacker.
5. Use anti-malware protection
Even if hackers don’t break HTTPS encryption or use fake certificates, they can still steal confidential data by downloading malicious software onto users’ computers through email attachments or infected websites that exploit vulnerabilities in software products like browsers or PDF readers. Anti-malware software can detect malware before it infects user systems so that administrators can remove it before it does any damage.
6. Block malicious websites
Web gateways can block websites that contain malware or phishing attacks. You can also block websites that distribute pirated software and content that violates copyrights and other intellectual property rights. Many organizations fail at this, which is why it’s important to test your web gateway to ensure that these types of websites are blocked.
7. Don’t rely on your web gateway to block all malicious files
Malicious files are often disguised as legitimate files, so they’re hard to detect with just a web gateway. To protect your network from these types of attacks, you need an additional layer of protection by deploying anti-malware software on user systems. Even if your web gateway blocks the malicious file, it still makes its way onto users’ computers where anti-malware software can find it and remove it before it does any damage.
8. Deploy content filtering
Web gateways can’t always detect what’s in the content of an email message or webpage, which is why you need content filtering to supplement them. Content filtering compares message contents against blacklists (lists of known unsafe file types) and filters out malicious messages before they’re sent to employees’ inboxes or appear in their browsers. This type of protection should always be deployed unless your web gateway is capable of detecting and blocking all types of malicious content without help from third-party software.
9. Test frequently
You wouldn’t expect security problems with a car after just a few days or weeks on the road, so why do some companies test their web gateways only every few months? If you don’t use your web gateway, it won’t work properly when you need it most—like when you’re under attack by hackers who want to steal confidential information and destroy your network. To ensure that your web gateway is working properly, test it regularly and deploy updates as soon as they become available so you’re protected against the latest security vulnerabilities.