Back 
This is a series of articles focused on Next Gen SWG use cases. This is the fifth in a series of six use cases.
In my recent blog about advanced threat protection, I covered how the threat landscape has evolved and how the SWG (secure web gateway) needs to also evolve to be effective in defending against new and emerging threats. The next use case is centered around advanced data protection. While there are distinct capabilities tied to data protection vs. threat protection, they both ultimately aim to achieve the same goal and that is to protect your data. Data protection requirements have also evolved and SWGs also need to evolve their data protection capabilities to be effective in today’s digitally transforming world.
Let’s take a look at five advanced data protection requirements that a Next Gen SWG should support.
1. Improve visibility and stop sensitive data moving between managed and unmanaged cloud apps
Netskope Threat Labs recently reported that the majority of data policy violations occur in cloud storage, collaboration, and webmail apps. This makes sense given that these apps are known to be data-heavy given that they are used to collaborate. What is interesting is that 20% of users move data laterally, including between managed and unmanaged cloud services and between company and personal instances.
This is a challenge because traditional SWGs do not have the capability to differentiate between corporate-managed, partner, or unmanaged instances of cloud apps, so the result is they have to allow list them so employees can continue to collaborate, uninterrupted. This provides red carpet entry for both external bad actors and malicious insiders to use this gaping hole to steal data.
A Next Gen SWG needs to be instance-aware to differentiate between corporate-managed, partner, and unmanaged instances of cloud apps. It also needs to be able to apply granular policies to block sensitive data going to unmanaged instances, while allowing the data to go to the managed versions. This is critical for safely enabling collaboration without disrupting the employee’s ability to collaborate.
2. Stop data leaking in web forums, blog comments, and social m