Fortinet Secure Web Gateway

Secure Web Gateway (SWG) solutions

As enterprises continue to rearchitect their WAN Edge with rapid migration of applications to the cloud, the attack surface at the remote sites/branch locations continues to increase. This risk is especially high for web-based traffic, as web-based threat continue to be one of the primary attack vectors. As attack techniques become more advanced and versatile, organizations need an integrated approach to secure against external and internal risks. Fortinet's secure web gateway provides flexible deployment options to protect against internet-based threats without compromising on end-user experience.

What is a Secure Web Gateway (SWG)?

Secure Web Gateway (SWG) solutions use web filtering to enforce company Internet access policies. They also filter unwanted software, especially malware, from user-initiated Internet connections.

SWGs are hugely important as enterprises have continued to evolve their WAN Edge. Applications are rapidly migrating to the cloud, and the attack surface at remote sites and branch locations continues to increase. Security risks are especially high for web-based traffic, and as attack techniques become more advanced, organizations need an integrated approach to secure against external and internal risks.

An SWG solution should include URL filtering, application control, deep HTTPS/SSL inspection, data loss prevention and remote browser isolation capabilities. SWGs are increasingly popular, and the overall web gateway market is expected to reach $4B by 2023.

Fortinet's SWG provides flexible deployment options, including explicit, transparent, and inline modes, to protect against internet-based threats without harming end-user experience.

Secure Web Gateway vs. Firewall

SWGs prevent malware infections, block access to malicious websites and applications, and enforce company compliance policies, especially at branch offices and for remote workers.

SWGs are similar to firewalls in that they both can discern malicious Internet traffic from benign traffic, and both provide advanced network security protections. Firewalls function at the packet level. The primary role of SWGs, however, is to identify and protect against advanced attacks by inspecting web traffic at the application level—without compromising on overall web experience.

A fully integrated enterprise security strategy requires both SWGs and next-generation firewalls (NGFW).

Secure Web Gateway vs. Proxy

Traditional web proxy tools manage how traffic passes between an organization’s internal endpoints and the Internet. Over time, organizations have embraced Secure Web Gateway solutions to offer a more advanced set of capabilities beyond what traditional proxy alone can offer.

Fortinet Secure Web Gateway

Fortinet Secure Web Gateway defends users from internet-borne threats and helps enterprises enforce policy compliance for internet applications. With FortiGate SWG, you can deploy industry-leading Fortinet Next-Generation Firewalls as a proxy.

FortiGate SWG consolidates NGFW and SWG services, helping enterprises manage their network security solution with ease. It supports all proxy deployment modes and uses multiple detection techniques such as web filtering, DNS filtering, data loss prevention, antivirus, intrusion prevention, and advanced threat protection to protect employees from internet threats.

FortiGate SWG is best suited for enterprises looking to consolidate network security services and optimize the workload of security teams.

Enterprises can also adopt FortiProxy, a dedicated Secure Web Gateway solution. Among many benefits, FortiProxy offers integration with FortiGuard Threat Intelligence services—continuously updated threat intelligence used to enhance DNS and web filtering, intrusion prevention, dynamic analysis using sandboxing, antivirus and DLP, and content analysis.

The importance of Secure Web Gateway

SWGs keep enterprise networks safe from malicious Internet traffic, preventing threats from entering the network and causing an infection or intrusion.

Critical SWG features such as SSL inspection are increasingly necessary to protect enterprises, especially with more than half of all attacks and malicious Internet traffic today using encryption.