Today, a secure web gateway is bound to make an impact in your business. Why do we say so? And what impact will it make?
Secure Web Gateway Is Bound to Make an Impact in Your Business
To begin, secure web gateway (SWG) is a term used in the security industry to describe a web application firewall (WAF). One that is designed to prevent users from accessing malicious or harmful content on the internet.
Web applications are the backbone of a company’s success and its business operations. But web applications are not impenetrable. They are vulnerable to attacks and breaches by hackers and malware. In the past, cyber-criminals have attacked the vulnerabilities of web applications and succeeded in hacking into them. Thus, stealing critical data and causing havoc in the affected business’s network.
So, the impact of an attack on a web application is much bigger than an attack on a website. A website is merely an electronic brochure of your business. But a web application is its online store, online banking platform, online payment gateway, and more. This enables your customers to carry out their transactions with you.
If your business’ website gets hacked, it may suffer some loss of reputation and people may stop visiting it. But if your business’ web applications get hacked, it may lose crucial data that may cost you millions of dollars in losses.
Furthermore, cybercriminals may use your business’ digital assets (such as emails) to spread malware or attack other businesses. Either by injecting malicious code into their websites or applications. This will have a huge impact on you as well as other businesses that share your digital assets with your business.
To avoid such dire situations from taking place, you must deploy secure web gateways (SWGs) between your Internet connection and your web applications. By deploying an SWG you can secure your business from any kind of cyber-attacks on your websites or applications. Thus, leaving a very positive impact on your business.
How Does Secure Web Gateway Work?
A secure web gateway is deployed between your Internet connection and internet-facing servers. Either they are physical servers or virtual servers hosted on cloud platforms like Amazon Web Services (AWS). The SWG sits between an Internet connection and internet-facing servers.
Then, when a user requests your web application from the Internet, the SWG inspects it. The SWG inspects the request for signs of malicious intent. If the request has malicious intent, then it is denied access to the server and blocked.
Also, if any cybercriminals try to inject malware into your web application, then it will be blocked and you will be protected from attacks.
Conclusion
As you can see, an SWG must be deployed between your Internet connection and internet-facing servers. Because cyber-criminals and hackers will always target a business’s web applications because they are more valuable than its website. So, making sure that your web applications are protected by deploying a secure web gateway is paramount to protecting your business.