Secure Web Gateway Solutions

Enforce corporate policies and protect your business from threats without extra hardware with OpenVPN’s secure web gateway solutions.

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What are Secure Web Gateway Solutions?

Secure web gateway (SWG) solutions detect and prevent threats, unauthorized access, and malware using a digital barrier and filter between a website and an end-point device. This blocks access to potentially harmful sites in addition to cyberattacks. You can think of these as the castle moat, defending against sneaky threats that may try to cross your border.
OpenVPN’s Cyber Shield makes this possible by protecting businesses and users from potentially malicious or undesirable content. In other words, by blocking access to potentially malicious sites — whether your employee was attempting to access them accidentally through a phishing email or they were trying to access a site that may distribute malware — you can keep your team on track and productive with fewer interruptions from outside threats.

Benefits of Secure Web Gateway Solutions

Web security gateway is crucial to safeguarding organizational assets, data, and intellectual property from cyber and internet-borne threats.

Enhanced Security for Business Operations

SWG solutions provide proactive threat detection and prevention mechanisms to help identify and neutralize threats before they can impact business activities, ensuring smooth and secure operations.

Greater Visibility

SWG solutions like OpenVPN’s Cyber Shield give you the opportunity to take a closer look at who and where the greatest threats are in your org. You’ll have better visibility into who attempts to access blocked sites so you can address possibly concerning behavior.

Improved Bandwidth Usage & Productivity

SWG solutions optimize web traffic and reduce network congestion. By prioritizing essential traffic and blocking non-essential or harmful traffic, these solutions enhance overall network performance. Plus, by blocking undesirable content, you can help your team stay productive.

Components of Secure Web Gateway Solutions

Secure web gateway solutions often comprise several key components designed to protect web traffic and enforce security policies:

Web Filtering:Categorizes and analyzes web traffic to block access to malicious websites, inappropriate content, and unauthorized applications.
Anti-Malware Protection:Scans web traffic for malicious software, preventing malware infections.
SSL Inspection:Decrypts and inspects encrypted web traffic to identify and mitigate potential security threats.
Application Control:Manages and controls the use of web-based applications.
Data Loss Prevention:Prevents unauthorized data transfer and protects sensitive information from leaks.

Web Filtering

Web filtering technologies in SWG solutions categorize and analyze web traffic, blocking access to malicious websites, inappropriate content, and unauthorized applications. This ensures that users can safely browse the internet without encountering harmful or non-compliant content.

Anti-Malware Protection

Anti-malware engines in SWG solutions scan incoming web traffic for malicious software. By identifying and blocking malware, these solutions prevent infections that could compromise organizational security.

SSL Inspection

SSL inspection decrypts and examines encrypted web traffic, ensuring that even secure connections are free from hidden threats. This process helps identify and neutralize potential security risks within encrypted data streams.

Additionally, CloudConnexa's SWG protects businesses by using the following domain filtering categories:

Websites that distribute Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUP) or Potentially Unwanted Applications (PUA) and ads via Pop-Ups. PUP and PUA are typically distributed within third-party bundled software packages when a user installs other desired software. PUP or PUA are not innately malicious, but can impact device performance, or pose a security risk by installing root certificates that can be exploited by malicious actors.

Domains used for Command and Control of malware bots installed on user's computer. Also known as C2 or C&C – Command and Control establishes an unauthorized connection to a user’s computer.
This usually happens when a user opens a phishing email or other infected resource, allowing the malicious actor to commandeer the computer and execute their own code. The malicious actor may also have access to the user’s data.

Random domains are generated using the DGA method to escape detection and establish coordinated attacks. DGA stands for Domain Generating Algorithm. This malware cyber attack method generates fictitious domains to establish communication with a Command and Control server to control the device. The fictitious command servers are decommissioned and re-generated at new IP addresses to continue coordinated attacks.

Websites related to malware distribution and communication. Malware is software designed to gain unauthorized access to a user’s computer. Some websites contain forums discussing methods of distribution. Some websites are specifically created to deliver malware. Some malware distribution methods are:

Social Network spam – unsolicited messaging from social networks
- To enable blocking of Social Networking, enable that category also
Drive by downloads from infected websites – unintentional downloads that install malware
- To block potentially infected websites, enable the Web spam or scam category also
Exploit kits – A Remote Access Tool used to exploit a user’s computer

Websites related to ransomware distribution and control. Ransomware is malicious software and techniques used to encrypt or otherwise make critical data and systems inaccessible. Users are manipulated to submit remittances to regain access to data. Ransomware can be distributed in the form of popups that require action from the user to avoid data loss, performance degradation, unauthorized distribution, or from email.

Websites that advertise fake services, products and other fraudulent schemes. These sites distribute unauthorized spam, or solicit fraudulent schemes. Web spam is evasive and is usually distributed from zombie computers that act as proxies to deliver unauthorized emails, tricking the users into clicking malicious links that may contain fake services, products, or fraudulent schemes. Less malicious spam can be a distraction for your users.

Websites related to hacking (e.g. cracking, stolen data, jailbreaking, etc). Websites related to hacking — unauthorized use of a user’s device or network.

Websites related to cracking — the act of obtaining unauthorized access to a user’s device or network.
Websites containing or forums discussing stolen data.
Websites discussing jailbreaking — the act of exploiting a system’s vulnerabilities for the purpose of modifying its functionality or sites discussing those techniques.

Why Companies Need a Secure Web Gateway (SWG)

SWG solutions are particularly beneficial for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that may not be familiar with advanced cybersecurity measures but need to safeguard their digital assets.

Secure Remote Workforces

Secure web gateway solutions are vital for ensuring the security of remote employees' internet connections and web browsing activities. These solutions provide comprehensive protection against cyber threats, allowing remote workforces to operate securely and efficiently.

Protect Company Resources

SWG solutions help organizations protect their valuable assets, data, and intellectual property from cyberthreats such as malware infections, phishing attacks, and data breaches. Implementing robust web security measures is essential to safeguarding organizational resources and maintaining business continuity.

Real-Time Monitoring and Reporting

Real-time monitoring and reporting capabilities provide visibility into web traffic and security events. These features generate detailed reports and logs, helping organizations identify security threats, policy violations, and user behavior patterns, thus enabling timely and informed responses.

Secure Access to the Internet

SWG solutions ensure secure access to the internet by blocking access to malicious websites, inappropriate content, and unauthorized applications. By filtering and monitoring web traffic, these solutions effectively prevent users from accessing harmful or non-compliant content.

SWG Features to Shield Your Organization Against Cyber Threats

Protect all traffic

Works even without routing the actual web traffic to CloudConnexa.

Protection without inspection

Can be an effective security measure for SMB needs without needing to act as man-in-the-middle and inspect SSL traffic.

Easy implementation

Offers easy implementation — no need to configure PAC files or use other means to route web traffic to SWG.

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Secure Web Gateway FAQs

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Implementing a Secure Web Gateway offers several benefits, including:

Enhanced security: Protects against web-based threats and data breaches.
Increased visibility: Provides real-time monitoring and reporting of web traffic.
Helps organizations comply with industry regulations and data protection laws.
Improved productivity: Prevents access to inappropriate or non-work-related websites.
Optimize Bandwidth: Optimizes network bandwidth by filtering out non-essential traffic.

While SWG solutions provide advanced web security capabilities, they are not designed to replace traditional antivirus software entirely. Instead, SWG solutions complement antivirus software by focusing on web-based threats such as malicious websites, phishing attacks, and malware downloads, while antivirus software protects against threats that originate from other sources such as email attachments and local files.

To ensure a smooth implementation of a SWG solution, consider the following steps:

Conduct an assessment of organization's web security needs and requirements.
Choose a solution that aligns with organization's size, budget and security objectives.
Plan deployment considering network architecture, user connectivity, and scalability.
Train employees on SWG solution and educate about web security best practices.
Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the SWG solution regularly, making adjustments as needed to optimize security posture.