Secure Web Gateway in 2024: Definition, Benefits & Use Cases

According to Accenture, the number of cyberattacks climbed by more than 30% in 2021 compared to 2020, reaching an average of 270 attacks per organization. Study indicates that approximately one successful breach occurs in nine attempts. As shown in Figure 1, successful cyberattacks can have financial consequences for enterprises and damage a company’s reputation.

To reduce the risk of cyberattacks, 82% of businesses increased their IT security spending. Secure web gateway (SWG) is a simple to set up and relatively cheap but an effective cyber security solution. In this article, we introduce SWG in detail.   

Figure 1: Possible short and long term cost of cyberattacks:

What is a secure web gateway SWG?

SWG is a cybersecurity solution that protects users from cyber threats that occur over the internet. SWG is a bridge that checks data transfer between users and the internet in accordance with company policies. For example, when users search for specific URLs through the SWG platform, they need SWG’s approval to view and use the website.

To ensure cybersecurity of corporations, SWGs have following general features:

• Filtering URLs: Employees can only access allowed URLs which reduces the possibility of getting computer viruses.
• Perform encrypted traffic analysis: SWG evaluates the trustworthiness of encrypted sources without having to decrypt them.
• Detecting malicious code and software: SWG alerts users when their devices are contaminated with malicious code or software.
• Monitoring and recording online history of users: SWG allows employers to see how their employees spend their time on computers by monitoring and storing their internet activity.
• Data loss prevention: SWG prevents data export to unauthorized third parties.

What are the benefits of using SWG?

Figure 2 Benefits of SWG:

• Protect against cyber threats: SWG secures business activities that take place on cloud environments by using URL filtering and detecting malicious codes.
• Enhance corporate flexibility: Businesses can employ cloud computing solutions with peace of mind since SWG makes the cloud environment safer. Cloud solutions allow employees to collaborate from any location, allowing the company to become borderless. There are vendors that offer SWG that can readily integrate with major cloud computing platforms like Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Salesforce and so on.  
• Ensure compliance: Employees can export the corporate data to the outside of the company without alliance and it might cause forensic issues. Data loss prevention capability of SWG reduces the likelihood of such problems and enhances data protection. 
• Increase worker productivity: Thanks to the URL filtering SWG keeps workers away from distracting websites and improves their productivity.
• Ease organizational monitoring: By tracking the worktime of employees SWG solutions guide executives to evaluate fairness of workload on workers. As a result, they can make data-driven decisions about the number of hires, task division, promotions, and so on.

Why is SWG important now?

SWG protects firms against the cyber threats that occur in the internet environment. As cloud solutions become widespread, the use of cybersecurity solutions such as SWG becomes important.

For businesses IT needs, there is a technology trend toward employing more cloud computing solutions and fewer in-house data centers. For instance, at the end of 2022 it is forecasted that traditional servers will be around 30% of all IT solutions. It is almost half of the 2019 percentage.

How to choose partners for SWG? 

• Integrability: The key reason why businesses desire to use SWG is to protect their cloud-based business processes. As a result, the first thing companies should look for when considering collaborating is if the SWG solution offered by candidate suppliers is suitable for the cloud computing platform they employ. For example, if your firm uses AWS, the SWG you purchase must be integratable with it.  
• Certificates: Certificates like ISO 27001 or HIPAA show the quality of your partners for dealing with sensitive data. To avoid form data breaches, it is important to check such certifications before starting a partnership. 
• References: Case studies from past projects should be available from the vendor. Getting in touch with companies that have collaborated with the provider might be a useful way to learn more.
• Quality of workers: A background check for the employees of the candidate partnering organizations can be illuminating to understand whether or not the company is capable of performing your expectations. 
• Customer support model: Different vendors apply different policies for customer service. For instance, it is easy to reach some vendors when you have a problem. Before buying SWG, you need to assess the need for effective customer service according to product features and your organizational IT capabilities.
• Price: If you have a choice of vendors with whom you may do business, it makes sense to go with the cheapest.

You can check our list of SWG vendors that can help you to find the most suitable partner for your business.

You can also read our 5 Cybersecurity Trends Organizations Must be Aware of in 2022 article

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