The last 12 months have seen a rise in the number of cyber-attacks across the world. The pandemic has encouraged the “work from home” model being pushed across nations and this has brought about there own technical and security challenges.
Internal IT support teams and general IT support provider have been kept very busy when it comes to operating and protecting their IT services. Also, cloud services providers have seen immense growth in businesses wanting to use their services
One of the areas around security that have seen immense growth and adoption has been internet web security. As users are now at home utilizing their Wi-Fi systems, the need for hybrid cybersecurity solutions has increased. Internet browsing now occurs for work and private browsing, often, from company devices. This brings its challenges in terms of security and cyber threats.
With the advent of cloud services, more often then not, security is almost proxied to the partner and so having an element of protection, governance and assurances is more important than ever
Many of the solutions available today are essentially cloud services-centric in that there is limited, if any, infrastructure or setup that needs to be held locally. This allows for faster adoption of the solution and allows you to leverage more security, quicker.
What Is Web Filtering?
Web filtering is a technology that allows you to stop users from opening specific URLs on the Internet. The solution can be both at the device layer or the network layer; whereby the user is often not aware that they are being protected (and monitored.
Benefits of Web Filtering for Online Businesses
Prevents Phishing Attacks
One of the biggest threats for businesses is phishing attacks. This is a form of hacking that is done to acquire sensitive information; by the use of deception. For example, such attacks may impersonate a company or authority so that login information can be acquired from the user, which in turn helps the hacker gain access to the sensitive information.
However, web-filtering can prevent such phishing attacks as it provides an additional layer of security. As part of the service, all requests to access the internet are checked against a known list of sites that are either fake or known to host suspect data.
Extra Bandwidth
Some of your employees may be using computers for activities other than work such as games, web surfing, streaming, music, videos, and using other cloud services. With a web filtering service you can filter and monitor this usage and where required make it only available during set times. This ultimately saves bandwidth which allows for business-critical services to run more smoothly and without delays.
Protection Against Exploit Kits
Hackers may be getting smarter but so are the cybersecurity solutions providers. Many ransomware attacks rely on a command and control server which is then able to send instructions on what the malware/virus needs to do. This means that the device that has been affected needs to access a specific site/URL. A web filter may stop this as it has a list of locations that it knows shouldn’t be allowed and so the actual payload of the attack can be significantly reduced.
Monitoring and Alerting
A web filtering solution can provide valuable information about usage relating to your users. It can be a great tool to keep your company protected from suspicious browsing activity but can also be a source of information for 0-day attacks and communications.
There are numerous benefits of incorporating web filtering in your organisation, but the main concern to address is cybersecurity. Keeping your assets safe should be a key focus for your business.
