As your business grows, you might find yourself wondering if you need to invest in a secure web gateway (SWG) or a firewall. Both are crucial for businesses of all sizes, but there are some distinct benefits to each. Keep reading to find out which is the best solution for your company!
A Secure Web Gateway versus a Firewall: Definition
A secure web gateway or SWG is a device or an appliance that is positioned between the internet and a company’s internal network. It is a kind of edge device that is used to monitor, neutralize and control all traffic that enters or leaves a network.
As its name suggests, an SWG is primarily used to secure web traffic, although this is not its only function. An SWG can also be used to secure all types of traffic, including SSL traffic. It also provides a web application firewall for all protocols that use TCP. This includes HTTP (port 80), HTTPS (port 443), SMTP (port 25) and RDP (port 3389).
On the other hand, a firewall is mainly used to block unwanted traffic from entering, leaving, or traversing an organization’s network. Firewalls are usually placed at the gateway of a protected network. This is to monitor and allow or block the traffic from entering or leaving the protected network to another network.
Then, a firewall performs two basic functions:
1. Network address translation (NAT)
2. Filtering
A Secure Web Gateway versus a Firewall: Usage
Many organizations are using firewalls for securing their web applications but this is not enough. Since the firewalls are not capable of inspecting and controlling all types of web traffic such as FTP, RDP, and SSH, these use ports other than 80 and 443 that need extra attention especially when it comes to securing sensitive data over these ports like credit card details while browsing online.
Then, an SWG takes care of securing web applications like HTTP and HTTPS traffic even when connected via SSL. Since it has an embedded SSL inspection capability while firewalls do not have this function.
Moreover, an SWG also protects against known as well as zero-day attacks since it has an integrated antivirus engine. This inspects virus-infected files before allowing them through the gateway thereby providing real-time protection against malware infection from spreading within internal networks.
Since firewalls are meant for filtering unwanted traffic from entering or leaving an organization’s network, they can’t provide real-time protection against malware infection within internal networks. Because they are meant for protecting networks from external threats only unlike SWGs. These protect internal networks equally well from external as well as internal threats thereby making them more effective in fighting malware infection than firewalls.
The Bottom Line
From the above discussion, it is clear that an SWG is better than a firewall in securing web applications. This is due to its ability to inspect and control both incoming as well as outgoing web traffic. It provides real-time protection against both internal and external threats while firewalls can only protect networks from external threats.
But to get the best protection, it is recommended to use both SWG and a firewall because a firewall can only inspect and block incoming traffic while SWG inspects and controls outgoing traffic as well. This will ensure a more secure network than using either of the two alone.