What is the truth about secure web gateways? How can this be beneficial for companies and organizations using it today? Know below.
The Truth About Secure Web Gateways
Secure web gateways (SWGs) are tools that focus on secure web traffic and provide an added layer of protection to the webserver. This is a firewall that filters the input and output from a web server, allowing only authorized traffic. And then blocking unwanted traffic through the use of rules or policy.
SWGs are useful because they are effective in protecting against:
- malware,
- denial-of-service attacks,
- SQL injection attacks,
- cross-site scripting attacks
- and much more.
An ideal secure web gateway has the following features:
- a flexible rule-based policy that can be configured to allow or deny requests based on client IP addresses or domain names.
- stateful inspection of every packet to determine if it is a legitimate request.
- method for blocking malicious requests from reaching the webserver.
- ability to filter all packets using content filtering (e.g., virus scanning and filtering).
- ability to log all activity at various levels such as connection, request, and response headers and session data.
Then, there are several ways to implement SWGs. Software-based solutions run as a virtual machine on physical hardware or as a virtual machine in software running on commodity hardware (such as VMware ESX). These may also be installed on dedicated hardware appliances that have been built specifically for this purpose.
Additionally, there are also cloud-based solutions available that are hosted in data centers and managed by third parties. These solutions offer flexibility for companies that do not have the budget to invest in their infrastructure. It can also be for businesses that want better service levels than they can achieve on their own.
The Benefits of Secure Web Gateways
These tools provide additional security by allowing administrators to control what can pass through their network firewalls. This means companies can easily detect incoming threats before letting them into their internal networks. And can prevent confidential information from leaking out onto the Internet via malicious attempts at phishing or other cyberattacks.
Moreover, companies can focus on the security of their networks, while not having to invest in extensive hardware or software. It can also provide added protection from potential threats.
Then, other benefits include:
- invest in firewall solutions to protect their networks from malicious attempts at stealing information,
- ensure that their employees are protected from malicious attempts at compromising their accounts and computer systems,
- protect against DDoS attacks and other types of cyberattacks, and
- prevent data leakage through phishing attempts.
Final Words
So, it is a good idea for businesses to use secure web gateways. This way, they can have one less thing to worry about because they are protected from the outside world. In fact, the security of these tools is better than other tools available today because it is more dynamic than gateway anti-virus scanners.
Furthermore, it is more cost-effective than hiring a security consultant. It has more flexibility than integrating firewalls with a WAF (Web Application Firewall). And it also provides better security than having only a firewall without a WAF.