What is Web Gateway Security? And How Can It Protect My Business? 

Do you know if the websites that you are visiting are malicious?

How about if the forms that you are filling out are designed to capture personal information they should not be doing?

Whilst many businesses are starting to include security awareness training as part of their cyber security strategy, malicious websites designed to capture your personal information, or download malicious files, can be very difficult to spot, and many businesses do not know how to protect from these types of threats.

One of the essential layers in a modern comprehensive cyber security strategy is a Web Gateway Security solution. Understanding how it works and the benefits it offers can provide businesses with a robust line of defence against malicious activities.

What is Web Gateway Security?
A Web Gateway acts as a digital security checkpoint between a business network and the vast expanse of the internet. Known more formally as a Secure Web Gateway (SWG), this technology filters internet traffic to business devices, preventing harmful data from entering or leaving the business environment and ensuring that only secure, ensuring only authorised traffic under company security policies.

These gateways operate by monitoring web requests made by users within the network, blocking risky sites or activities, and enforcing policies based on the organisation’s security needs. This can include URL filtering, malware detection, data leak prevention, and other content filtering.

Do you not want employees browsing social media on their business devices? Do you want to ensure that gambling or adult websites are blocked? All of this can be accomplished with Web Gateway security, but the security side goes far deeper than this. 

How Does Web Gateway Security Work?
Web Gateway Security employs a variety of methods to ensure a secure internet experience for business employees. Here are the primary components that help keep web traffic safe:

URL Filtering: Filtering restricts access to specific websites or categories of sites that may be deemed unsafe, unproductive, or unsuitable for business purposes. For example, a primary example of this is that it will block access to known sites with malware or phishing risks, but it can also be used to block access to Gambling & Adult Websites, as well as social media. However, it is worth noting that departments such as Marketing (like us) will need continued access to social media for their roles. As such, URL filtering often needs to be deployed on an individual or department basis. 

Anti-malware Protection: WGS scans web content in real time, detecting and preventing malware from entering a network, including malware, spyware, ransomware, and other forms of malicious code embedded within websites or downloads.

SSL Inspection: With the increasing adoption of SSL encryption, cyber criminals often disguise malicious traffic within “SSL tunnels.” Secure Web Gateways can decrypt, inspect, and re-encrypt SSL traffic to ensure it is safe.

Data Leak Prevention (DLP): DLP controls within a Web Gateway prevent sensitive files or data from leaving the organisation unintentionally or maliciously. Ensuring that businesses remain compliant with data protection regulations and helps prevent data breaches. 

Application Control: Web Gateways can block or control access to specific applications, such as social media or file-sharing platforms (such as Dropbox, iCloud, MailBigFile and similar website), based on business policies. This control helps maintain productivity while securing the data on the network to only be shared through whitelisted services such as Microsoft OneDrive or SharePoint.

Sandboxing: Suspicious files or content that cannot be immediately classified can be “sandboxed” in a secure and isolated environment where they can be analysed by enhanced security tools without risking internal network security. If the file is deemed safe, it can proceed; if it’s malicious, it is blocked. The same can also be said for entire websites, where the web session will exit within a sandboxed environment if it is deemed to potentially be insecure. 

Why is Web Gateway Security Important?
According to the 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report by Verizon, 74% of breaches involved the human element, whether it was social engineering, errors, or misuse of privileges. A Web Gateway mitigates these risks by ensuring that risky websites, downloads, or suspicious activities do not enter or leave the network. 

Furthermore, with many employees working remotely or in hybrid environments, a Web Gateway can provide consistent protection across all locations and devices, whether that be a PC in the office, a laptop in a cafe, or a mobile phone on the road. 

What are the Key Benefits of Web Gateway Security?
Enhanced Network Security: The main function of a Web Gateway is to prevent unauthorised access to a company’s digital assets. It blocks known threats while continuously monitoring and adapting to new risks, sandboxing potential threats to be able to monitor them in real-time.

Regulatory Compliance: Many industries are bound by stringent data protection regulations, such as the GDPR or CCPA. A Web Gateway’s data leak prevention and SSL inspection capabilities can help businesses meet these compliance requirements, avoiding potential fines.

Increased Employee Productivity: By blocking access to distracting or unsafe websites, Web Gateways can improve productivity. They allow administrators to set clear boundaries for what is acceptable online activity during work hours.

Reduced Cyber Security Risks: Web Gateway significantly individual device security risks by centralising web filtering and security protocols acting as a secure barrier for your business data protection as part of your overall cyber security strategy.

Protection Against Advanced Threats: Advanced cyber-attacks, such as ransomware and zero-day exploits, are complex and challenging to detect. Web Gateways with advanced threat protection features, like sandboxing and behavioural analysis, offer an additional layer of security ensuring that web downloads are checked in a secure environment before they are greenlit.  

Can you get around web gateway security?
As web gateway security sits as a protective layer between user devices and the internet, you would think that there is no way around these protections. However, tools such as a Proxy VPN, where user devices are able to encrypt their internet traffic or route their internet traffic through another location (such as a different country to avoid content restrictions), act like a needle through the protective layer of web gateway security, allowing traffic to punch a hole through that protective layer, and prevent it from seeing the traffic travelling through. 

Can you protect against these circumventions?
Thankfully, many of the leading Web Gateway Security solutions, as well as tools such as Mobile Device Management (MDM), SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) and others, will allow you to block the installation of or use of these tools on your business devices, preventing users ability to bypass the protection that Web Gateway Security provides. 

How does Web Gateway Security fit within your Cyber Security Strategy?
It is important to consider that whilst Web Gateway Security offers a crucial line of defence for any business facing the daily threat of online attacks, it is only a part of a much larger holistic approach to cyber security that should include additional security solutions such as Endpoint Detection and Response, Application & Device Ringfencing, Active Email Threat Protection, Immutable Backups, Active Threat Hunting and much more.

As cyber threats become more sophisticated, implementing a Secure Web Gateway can not only protect sensitive information but also support productivity and regulatory compliance with Cyber Essentials, ISO27001 and regulations set out under GDPR, DPA2018, guidelines laid out by the ICO and more.

If you would like to see how Web Gateway Security fits into your larger cyber security strategy, fill out the form below to take our FREE Cyber Security Health Check, and understand if your business is protected from modern cyber security threats.