A Next Generation Secure Web Gateway (NG SWG) is a new cloud-native solution for protecting enterprises from the growing volume of sophisticated cloud enabled threats and data risks. It is the logical evolution of the traditional secure web gateway, also known as a web proxy or web filter. Unlike a traditional secure web gateway, a Next Gen SWG deals in both cloud and web traffic, whereas the former only deals in web traffic and is blind to cloud-enabled threats and data risks for personal instances of managed apps, thousands of shadow IT apps and cloud services.
Over the past decade, many enterprises have allow listed specific cloud services such as Microsoft Office 365 to bypass inline firewall and proxy security defenses – enabling a “red carpet” entry for threats or data exfiltration. The inability to detect data transferring between company and personal cloud app instances or the use of rogue instances for threat cloud delivery adds to the list of blind spots for legacy defenses.
Next Gen SWG allows you to continue to operate without sacrificing control over company data movement in apps and cloud services, or stifling workflows with blanket bans on certain applications and activities. This is crucial considering the recent and massive shift from office work to remote work, as well as the migration from traditional on-premise architectures over to the cloud during the past few years.
Gartner Report: Netskope Named a Visionary for SWG in 2020 Magic Quadrant
Use Cases: The Top 6 Use Cases for NG SWG
As stated earlier, Next Gen SWG is the next evolution in traditional web proxy gateway solutions, but how exactly do they protect against the modern threat landscape and data risks?
Simply put, traditional web filtering and proxy solutions are no longer effective at safeguarding web and cloud app users or the enterprise from the following:
1. Increasing cloud apps and services, as well as cloud-enabled threats
More than half of web traffic today (53%) is related to apps and cloud services, and more than two-thirds of malware (68%) is delivered from cloud apps versus the web*. Legacy web proxy gateways cannot decode apps and cloud services to detect these cloud delivered threats. All stages of the cyber kill chain are now cloud-enabled, including reconnaissance, weaponization, delivery, and call back communications.
Business units and users continue to freely adopt new apps and cloud services, growing 22% for the first six months of this year where the average company with 500-2000 users accesses 805 distinct apps. Legacy SWG solutions are mostly blind to these growing shadow IT apps and cloud services and less than 3% are managed by IT.
2. Rising data exposure and theft in a cloud-first world
Over 90% of data created in the cloud happened in the last two years and more than 70% of users are mobile and work remotely. The ability to transfer data between company and personal instances of managed cloud apps, or to another personal cloud app instance, plus using webmail and sharing links is an easy task for any user today.
Legacy SWG solutions often lack DLP capabilities, especially for apps and cloud services, web browsers and forms, mobile apps and sync clients.
3. Growing number of remote workers accessing private and public apps and resources
The digital transformation to cloud and mobile is inverting the legacy appliance-based security stack to the cloud to better protect an increasing base of remote workers. Legacy SWG appliances located in offices force traffic hair-pinning with VPNs to central data centers which is no longer sufficient and results in a poor user experience.
Secure access service edge (SASE) architecture unites multiple security defenses into one cloud platform, with one console, and one policy engine resulting in lower total cost of operations. Next Gen SWGs cover five lanes of user traffic to public resources including web, managed SaaS, shadow IT, public cloud services, and custom apps in public cloud services. Private apps and resources within SASE architecture use Zero trust network access (ZTNA) where implicit trust based on location or device is removed. In this new model, any user, any location, on any device is protected by a nearby cloud security services edge with minimal impact on performance.
What makes a Next Gen SWG truly “next generation” is the depth of control, monitoring, and protection for the five lanes of user traffic inspected. A Next Gen SWG goes beyond old “allow/block” policies of web proxies for one-lane of traffic and combines the capabilities of proxies, inline cloud access security brokers (CASB), and data loss prevention (DLP) platforms. This combination delivers a variety of advanced cloud visibility features and capabilities:
With the use of a Next Gen SWG, you can monitor behavior for web, apps and cloud services, set granular acceptable use policies, invoke adaptive policies based on app risk, user risk, activity, and data sensitivity, and provide real-time user coaching to safer alternatives and away from risky apps. Not only does this improve your security in the cloud, but it also improves user experiences by avoiding blanket bans on certain actions and devices. Granular controls and inline visibility of a Next Gen SWG helps contextualize user and data activity so adaptive policies can guide users while reducing risk and protecting data without interfering with legitimate work practices.
Blog: CASBとSWGが進む道
White Paper: Shift Your Security to the Cloud, For the Cloud
These are the six individual capabilities unique to a Next Generation Secure Web Gateway:
1. Monitors and assesses individual actions
何千ものマネージドアプリとアンマネージドアプリとクラウドサービス、およびWebトラフィックのインラインでの可視化を実現し、SWG + CASB + DLP を1つの次世代 SWGプラットフォームに統合します。
See NG SWG Monitoring and Assessment in Action
2. Granular control over applications
Get real-time, granular control of thousands of cloud apps including the shadow IT ones led by lines of business and users vs. IT. This enables you to stop the bad stuff from happening and safely enable the good.
See NG SWG Application Control in Action
3. Implementation of acceptable use policies
従来型のWebフィルタリングで使用されているようなURLカテゴリ、そしてカスタムカテゴリ、動的ページの評価、さらに包括的なクラウドアプリの使用率の評価を、クラウドとWebの両方を対象とする統合されたポリシーに組み込みます。
See NG SWG Acceptable Use Policies in Action
4. Protection against threats
Protect against web and cloud-delivered malware and advanced threats with advanced defense capabilities from cloud app instance awareness to detect rogue and personal instances used to deliver phishing and threats, to pre-execution analysis of scripts and macros, cloud and bare-metal sandboxing, and machine learning-based threat analysis and anomaly detection.
See NG SWG Threat Protection in Action
5. Protection of data everywhere
あらゆる場所でデータを追跡および保護し、完全一致DLPから類似性照合によるフィンガープリンティングまでの高度な機能により、正確な検査を実現します。
See NG SWG Data Protection in Action
6. Covers direct-to-internet
Eliminate costly back hauling and improve performance for remote offices and users with cloud edge-based network infrastructure, optimized for low latency and high capacity worldwide.
See NG SWG Edge Network Security in Action
Organizations looking to adopt a Next Gen SWG should look for a single-platform, unified, cloud-native solution that:
1. Leverages true cloud architecture
The solution must be built around cloud-native microservices with fully integrated capabilities, not cloud-hosted separate legacy solutions, for true cloud performance and scale. Also, using a carrier grade private network optimized for access leveraging peering relationships with global and local cloud service providers is essential for worldwide availability and performance. The resulting cloud service has a minimal performance impact on the user experience, and in some cases, an accelerated experience.
2. Decodes apps and cloud services
このソリューションでは、何千ものアプリとクラウドサービスをWebトラフィックとともにデコードして、データと脅威対策の防御のためのコンテンツとコンテキストを理解する必要があります。新しい言語は、アプリケーション、クラウドサービス、Web サイト用に JSON に基づいて構築された API です。NG SWG 防御では、ユーザー、デバイス、場所、アプリ、リスク、インスタンス、コンテンツ、アクティビティを把握して、コンテキストに基づいたポリシー制御を行うだけでなく、分析、調査、機械学習のための豊富なメタデータを収集する必要があります。
3. Keeps pace with new attacks
このソリューションは、既知の攻撃から単に保護することはできませんが、クラウドフィッシング、クラウドによるペイロード配信、コールバック通信などのクラウド対応脅威を含む、さまざまな新規および新規脅威に対処できる必要があります。これには、高度な脅威対策とデータ保護対策に加え、機械学習のためのコンテンツとコンテキスト用のアプリと、クラウドサービスの通信をデコードするという体系的な利点が必要です。
Cloud-enabled threats leverage trusted domains with valid certificates either passing through legacy defenses or being allow-listed to bypass defenses. Users can maliciously or accidentally transfer data between company and personal instances, or be phished for access credentials in these legacy environments.
Blog: A CISOs View of SASE
Blog: How to Think About Gartner’s Strategic Roadmap for SASE Convergence
With the massive shifts to the cloud over the course of the pandemic, SWG technology is morphing into something bigger than itself. Combined with other technologies such as data loss prevention (DLP) and Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB), the concept of a Next Gen Secure Web Gateway is a crucial component of what is known as Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture.
SASE combines multiple security and networking technologies to provide comprehensive web and cloud security without the hiccups of traditional perimeter appliance-based security, such as latency and lack of context into data usage.
What this means is that a limited scope solution like a secure web gateway is no longer an option for companies. It’ll require a combined approach of multiple tools in which Next Gen SWGs are just a component of this security strategy.
The Netskope team is very proud to announce that Netskope was named a 2021 Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice for its Secure Web Gateway solution. *
Get the full report to see the results of the 2021 Gartner Peer Insights “Voice of the Customer” for SWG.
組織がクラウドサービスの利用に慣れるにつれ、ミッションクリティカルでプロダクショングレードに適したアプリケーションがクラウドに移行するか、同等の機能を備えたSaaSアプリに置き換えられています。
詳しくはこちら* As of 10 June, 2021, Netskope has an Overall Rating of 4.7 out of 5 in the Secure Web Gateways market, based on 69 reviews.
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