In the age of the internet, the majority of the workflow for all enterprises has shifted online. More work is carried out over the internet than within the office premises.
With this shift to the cloud and hybrid work, the amount of data flowing through cloud applications has grown significantly, and endpoints are scattered across a wide area.
This introduces the challenge of keeping the devices and, more importantly, the company data safe across the entire organization. For a breach to occur today, a hacker doesn’t need to forcefully break through the security net; a single click on a malicious website is enough to bypass the company’s firewall and introduce malware into the network.
This is not a rare occurrence and happens more often than one would admit to.
If the attacks have gotten more complex and the threat surface area has increased significantly, how does one protect their data integrity?
To ensure data security best practices, enterprises are adopting tools like secure web gateways along with existing firewalls. While they perform the same job of keeping your systems secure, their approaches are very different. As James Franco said in ‘The Interview’, “Same same, but different”.
Let’s deep dive into the debate of secure web gateway vs firewall, what they both do, where they differ, and which one you should pick.
What is a secure web gateway?
A secure web gateway is a control point between users and the internet. It inspects every web request and applies security policies. Then, based on defined parameters, it determines whether the request should be allowed, blocked, or logged.
More than blocking known bad sites, a secure web gateway’s primary function is to oversee and control data exchange between the internet and the network. From scanning files for malware, controlling the use of high-risk web applications, to preventing sensitive data from leaving through browser sessions, these actions occur in real-time to avoid disrupting the workflow.
To put it in simple terms, a secure web gateway inspects every piece of inbound data and every request, whether from an office desktop, a field device, or an employee’s laptop halfway around the world.
What is a firewall?
Firewalls are among the oldest and most tried-and-tested cybersecurity tools, having been in place since the inception of the network. It acts as a barrier between your internal network and the outside world while monitoring incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predefined security rules.
Similar to a secure web gateway, a firewall inspects data packets that enter or leave your network and decides whether to allow or block them based on rules set by the IT team. Firewalls have different types, each designed to protect your network in its own unique way.
Firewalls are essential for blocking unauthorized access, preventing cyberattacks, and segmenting network zones to contain potential breaches. However, they don’t inspect what content the users access once a connection is allowed.
Secure web gateway vs firewall: 7 key differences
Despite being very similar in functionality and both working toward endpoint security, a secure web gateway and a firewall operate very differently and on different levels. Let’s put these in comparison to highlight their differences:
1. Deployment
A secure web gateway can be deployed either on premises or through the cloud. Contrastingly, firewall deployment is based on the specific needs of the organization, such as the types of threats to prevent and the network structure.
2. Integration and complexity
Adopting a secure web gateway can be a complex procedure as it requires detailed security policies and user access controls to be established and updated constantly. Firewall, on the other hand, has challenges with network segmentation, slower performance due to the extra processing steps, and balancing security perimeters.
3. Operation and management
Firewalls operate with a broad set of security rules that are applied to all incoming and outgoing network packets and control the traffic flow. On the other hand, a secure web gateway narrows down on inspecting web traffic itself and authenticates users, ensuring all the requests made match the policies put in place.
4. Policy enforcement
Secure web gateway policy enforcement focuses on web security by utilizing application controls and URL filtering to determine if access is allowed or denied to specific web resources. Meanwhile, firewalls employ a wide range of security policies that monitor traffic patterns and block network-level attacks on the perimeter.
5. Encrypted traffic
Secure web gateways are capable of inspecting, decrypting, and re-encrypting web traffic, especially HTTPS-based, and performing checks within encrypted channels. Firewalls are capable of inspecting encrypted traffic; however, with their approach being broader in general, this may go beyond and include all network traffic, including IP, ports, and protocols.
6. Threat prevention
A secure web gateway prevents threats by detecting vulnerabilities in web requests and any anomalies in traffic patterns. Firewalls rely on packet inspection to monitor all active connections and prevent network-level threats, regardless of where they originate from.
7. Data protection
A secure web gateway can employ data loss prevention (DLP) solution to monitor data movement, even when granting access to the user. This allows it to prevent company-sensitive data from leaking through internet traffic. Firewalls may offer a DLP solution with limited capabilities, as their primary focus revolves around the entire network data transfers to prevent threats from entering the perimeter.
A brief overview of the differences can be viewed in this table:
| Aspect | Secure Web Gateway | Firewall |
| Deployment | On premises or via cloud. | Depends on network structure, security requirements, and threat prevention policy. |
| Integration and complexity | Requires detailed web security policies and user access control in place. | Can be taxing on the device performance and requires network segmentation |
| Operation and management | Continuous traffic inspection even after authenticating users, applies URL filtering, and anti-malware. | Examines all incoming/outgoing network packets, checks only until the user or data is authenticated to enter. |
| Policy enforcement | Enforces web security through predefined policies and URL filters. | Applies broader network security policies to block unauthorized access and attacks. |
| Threat prevention | Prevents threats that target web app vulnerabilities, observes web content, and user behavior. | Utilizes packet inspection to monitor traffic patterns and connections for network-level threats. |
| Data protection | Employs DLP. Monitors data movement and prevents data loss over the internet. | May offer DLP. Focuses on packet inspection and network data transfers. |
| Encrypted traffic | Decrypts, inspects, and re-encrypts HTTPS traffic to directly address security within web channels. | Inspects encrypted traffic beyond just the web. |
Why not both?
If both a secure web gateway and a firewall share the core objective of protecting networked systems from unauthorized access and cyber threats, then why not employ both? Both of them operate with pre-defined rules laid by security policies that dictate how incoming and outgoing traffic should be treated.
The truth remains that no single tool can provide 100% security. Hence, having layered security is crucial in maintaining the security posture of the company. The depth of firewalls in inspecting individual data packets complements the secure web gateway’s nature of constant web traffic monitoring. This combination provides a 360-degree safeguard against incoming threats at all levels.
By deploying a secure web gateway solution and firewall together, organizations can effectively filter traffic at both the packet and application levels. This dual-layered protection helps prevent malware infiltration, reduces the risk of human error leading to security breaches, and mitigates the impact of any malicious code that does manage to breach the network.
Here’s a list of a few of the benefits of having both a secure web gateway and a firewall:
- Firewalls protect your network perimeter, and secure web gateways protect the endpoints.
- A firewall may not identify URL phishing, but with URL filtering, a secure web gateway can prevent users from accessing it altogether.
- Firewalls control network access, deciding which devices, IPs, or ports can communicate, which ensures that the network perimeter stays strong.
- Application control gives visibility into shadow IT and enforces who can access business-critical cloud apps.
- Together, a secure web gateway and firewall ensure that security standards are kept high, both on and off the network perimeter.
- Firewalls alone can’t enforce controls on internet usage, which are required for meeting compliance levels.
By layering security with a firewall and a secure web gateway, companies can drastically reduce security breaches via malware infiltration or human error. This can further dampen the impact of malicious threats that do manage to break into the network.
To sum it up
Digital threats are evolving at breakneck speed, making it imperative to adapt to newer security tools. A single solution, no matter how thorough, leaves massive vulnerabilities if it is breached by a threat. This is why companies are moving toward layering their existing security measures with newer and more comprehensive solutions.
Together, a secure web gateway and firewall cover each other’s weak points and allow for a more robust security architecture that has solid foundations. But it is important to note that the secure web gateway and the firewall should not clash with each other in terms of policies and integration.
Scalefusion Veltar offers seamless integration of a secure web gateway with any and all of your existing security measures. It delivers category-based web filtering solution to reduce risk without overblocking, app bypass options to keep essential tools functional, and cloud app restrictions to ensure sensitive data stays within approved accounts. These capabilities work in the background, aligning with zero trust principles while keeping the web a safe, productive workspace.
Want to extend your enterprise’s security perimeter to every endpoint?
Try Scalefusion Veltar for yourself today.
FAQs
1. What is the difference between SWG and WAF?
SWG protects users by filtering outbound internet traffic for malicious content and policy violations. WAF protects web applications by filtering inbound traffic to block attacks like SQL injection and cross-site scripting
2. Should I prioritize deploying a SWG or a firewall?
Depending on the level of security and your specific needs. SWG is perfect for continuous protection that is proactive and reactive. Firewalls provide a standard set of security measures that cover the basics.
3. Are SWGs suitable for remote or hybrid work environments?
Yes, SWGs are well-suited for remote and hybrid work environments as they can be deployed over the cloud to cover remote devices with constant security.
4. What is an SWG in cybersecurity?
SWG stands for secure web gateway. It is a cloud-based or on-premises network security solution that acts as an intermediary between users and the internet, filtering out malicious web traffic, malware, and unauthorized content
