Today’s employees prefer to use a wide range of web apps in the office in order to get the absolute most out of their workday. For example, they manage their calendar with Google Calendar, check their emails through Office 365, chat with fellow employees using Slack, watch videos over YouTube, have conference calls over Zoom or store and share files using Dropbox.
The idea of allowing employees access to various web applications they need to maximize their productivity may sound like a good one at first, but often this level of freedom can create a host of headaches for a company’s security department. The problem is further exacerbated when security teams have to worry about securing access to such web apps over multiple web browsers for every employee on every device.
Web Browsers Are a Necessary Evil
Gartner estimates that 98% of all external information security attacks happen over the public internet, and 80% of those attacks are carried out through end users’ web browsers. With browsers at the center of so much corporate activity, it’s no surprise that browsers are the most likely place for cyber-attacks to happen.
Oftentimes, to keep things simple, the IT department will block entire categories of websites, including many of the essential sites that employees need to do their job effectively. Contrary to popular belief, no good comes out of being so heavy handed with blocking sites. First, the inability to access sites to do their job leads to employee productivity loss, and second, enterprise networks are still vulnerable since blocking sites doesn’t eliminate the threat of web-based malware that can be introduced through typically “safe” sites. To make matters worse, some organizations even take the extreme measure of blocking internet access altogether, which has obvious productivity concerns.
Then what is the best way to mitigate the threat of browser-based attacks while still providing employees with all the flexibility they need to be productive on a daily basis?
Remote Browser Isolation Provides a Solution
The solution to keeping your network safe while allowing unrestricted access to the web and work flexibility is Remote Browser Isolation. Remote isolated web browsing brings the best of both worlds into one seamless, easy to use solution that lets employees browse the web with complete freedom while also protecting your network from any browser-based threats.
Remote Browser Isolation moves your web browsing activity off the corporate network entirely, and into a remote virtual environment. This means that no web content ever enters the corporate network, so if any infected links or files are encountered, they are unable to cause any damage.
Furthermore, Remote Browser Isolation enables truly anonymous browsing capabilities that protect a user’s identity when browsing the web.
Conclusion
Today, the internet is the go-to source for information, productivity tools, commerce, socialization and business communication. The rapid emergence and use of social media, news sites, web apps and other business sites in the workplace, whether for personal or business use, have made the web browser one of the most likely places for cyber-attacks to happen. Every new website that is allowed into the corporate network potentially introduces a whole new range of attack vectors that security teams need to worry about. Remote Browser Isolation alleviates these security concerns while still allowing employees access to a wide range of websites and web applications in the office in order to get the absolute most out of their workday.
There is a wealth of information available online, and web browsers are the primary way we access it. Just as web browsers help us learn about the world, the world (both good and bad actors) can learn a lot about us by looking at our web browsers.
At this point the app you selected has been removed. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you have removed all unwanted apps.
