Today, we are cracking the secure web gateway secret. So, if you find this topic interesting, then read on.
Cracking the Secure Web Gateway Secret
The secret to a secure web gateway (SWG) lies in passive fingerprinting. Passive fingerprinting is an information security concept for identifying the remote computer system that is attempting to access a local computer system.
In other words, the SWG will passively fingerprint the remote computer system to authenticate it. So, how does a secure web gateway perform passive fingerprinting?
Let’s start with an example. Suppose that you want to access a file-sharing website from a remote computer system. The file-sharing website only allows access from a whitelist of remote computer systems and rejects access from all other systems. And, it performs passive fingerprinting to authenticate the remote client computer system.
Then, the file-sharing website will send a series of bytes (or packets) to the client computer system to fingerprint it. The IP address and port number of the client computer will remain constant throughout the communication channel between the two communicating parties.
However, the bytes sent by the file-sharing website will vary depending on which type of client computer it is trying to fingerprint. It turns out that different operating systems have different patterns in responding to these request packets sent by the file-sharing website.
For instance, Windows operating systems will respond differently than Linux operating systems in response to these request packets. Therefore, if a client computer requests access from the file-sharing website, it can determine whether or not it is a Windows or Linux-based client computer.
So, SWG uses a similar method as described above to perform passive fingerprinting on users’ browsers. This is to authenticate them before allowing them access to its protected network or even another protected website on the Internet.
The Benefits of Secure Web Gateway
What, then, are the benefits of using SWG today? Firstly, it protects organizations from a wide range of cyber threats. Such as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attacks, malware, and more.
Furthermore, SWG provides better control over the network traffic by giving administrators the ability to access logs in real-time. This allows administrators to easily monitor traffic, detect attacks, block dangerous sites, and so on.
Moreover, SWG provides the ability to filter out viruses, malware, cookies, and so on. This is done by analyzing all packets of data entering and leaving the network.
Further, companies can use SWG to implement staff training programs that teach employees how to protect themselves from cyber threats. Therefore, employees will be more secure while using the Internet. It also enables companies to monitor what their employees are doing on the Internet. As well as to monitor application utilization and employee productivity.
Conclusion
SWG enables companies to control costs by eliminating the need for a company-wide firewall. This is because SWG can be used in place of a company firewall. However, it is important to note that SWG and firewalls do not substitute each other. Rather, they work together.