What are some of the secure web gateway tactics that can help your business? How can these tactics help you?
Secure Web Gateway Tactics That Can Help Your Business
One of the most effective secure web gateway (SWG) tactics that can help your business is to deploy a reverse proxy. Also known as a web application firewall (WAF), a reverse proxy is a web server that sits in front of the website and intercepts clients’ requests to the website.
When it decides to let the request pass through, it processes the request and sends it to the webserver. Nowadays, most people are aware of what a secure web gateway is or how a secure web gateway works. Numerous businesses have already deployed one for their business security.
However, not all businesses utilize their SWG to its fullest capacity. They are still using their SWGs with the default settings and without any customization. Here are some of the tactics you can do:
Choose a Strong Password for Your SWG
The first thing you should do is to change your default password for your SWG. This will help you protect your SWG from brute force attacks. However, it will also protect you from other threats such as cross-site scripting (XSS) and SQL injection attacks. Because it will make it harder for hackers to guess your default password.
If you already have a strong password, then you can leave it as-is but if you don’t, then you should change it immediately.
Secure Your Web Gateway’s Configuration File
The configuration file of your SWG is another place where hackers attack first. That is why you should secure your SWG’s configuration file by encrypting it with a strong algorithm. Such as AES 256-bit encryption.
That way, even if hackers get hold of your SWG’s configuration file, they still won’t be able to view its contents unless they have the decryption key. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to do this without third-party software. So you will have to look for software that can do this for you.
Enable Automatic Software Updates on Your SWG
It is important to keep up with software updates because they often contain patches that fix bugs or vulnerabilities in your software or operating system (OS). If these bugs are left unpatched, hackers can exploit them and gain access to your system via an SWG attack.
So make sure that automatic software updates are enabled all the time on your SWG. You should also check manually if there are any available updates every week or two just in case there are new updates. Doing this will help you avoid future problems.
Follow These Secure Web Gateway Tactics That Can Help Your Business
As you can see, companies that are aware of these tactics are already implementing them with success. These tactics are also relatively easy to implement and you won’t have to spend too much time doing it. So make sure to follow them and secure your SWG even further. If you have questions, feel free to ask below.