Remote Browser Isolation — How to put an air gap between you and the malware.
The vast majority of malware and ransomware attacks against begin with the web browser and directly target internet users when they surf the internet normally. Gartner estimates that 98% of external information security attacks are carried over the public internet and that 80% of these attacks are targeted directly at end users through their browsers as they use the internet.
The Ponemon Institute conducted research which found that 72% of the breached enterprises surveyed were infiltrated through the browser.
It is clear to anyone who manages an IT infrastructure or their own PC, that the tools we are currently using (anti-virus, firewall, IDS/IPS) to protect ourselves, are ineffective at preventing the vast majority of these attacks.
To make matters worse these attacks are occurring in frequency and rose by more than 250% in 2017, with thousands of attacks reported on a daily basis to the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the FBI.
The trend among cybercriminals directly targeting internet users through their browsers looks like it has not even gotten close to peaking yet.
Browser based cyber attacks that infect internet users with malware, ransomware or software that seizes control of their computers resources are becoming a serious problem and because of this an increasing number of organizations are turning to browser isolation as a solution.
Primarily because research analysts like Gartner are recommending that browser isolation and remote browsing as one of the most effective ways that an enterprise can reduce web based cyber attacks against their users.
With this in mind, its worth taking a closer look at browser isolation cybersecurity and to talk about how it can protect your users from increasing amounts of malware, ransomware and web based cyberattacks.
Before I begin and for transparency purposes, I am the CEO of WEBGAP a browser isolation vendor and provider of remote browsing services.
Browser isolation is the art of physically isolating your browser and all of your browsing activity away from your local computer, and in doing so physically isolate browser based malware and ransomware attacks by default.
You accomplish this by placing an air-gap between your browser and your computer, creating a physical barrier that the malware cannot jump across and shutting down the most common attack vector against your users.
By physically isolating their users browsers, organizations can shut down the biggest infiltration and exfiltration point on their networks and dramatically enhancing their overall cybersecurity posture in a proactive way.
Because of this according to Gartner, more than half of US based enterprises will actively begin to isolate their internet browsing to reduce the impact of cyber attacks against their users over the next three years. Browser isolation is seen by big business as an effective way of isolating cyber-risk.
You can isolate your browsing activity in a number of ways and it can be as easy as running a VM on your local machine or in the cloud that you remotely access to use the internet on. There are a number of remote browser and browser isolation vendors, I maintain a list of browser isolation vendors on Index.co here if you wanted to do your own research around them.
Remote browsing is effectively the same thing as browser isolation, the difference being that with remote browsing you do not have to host your own browser isolation servers, or deal with any of the associated risks.
Instead the remote browser is delivered to your users from the cloud and as a service by a remote browsing service provider like WEBGAP.
You simply pay for access to a remote browser hosted by a third party remote browser vendor and outsource your cyber-risk onto their servers and away from your own local machines and internal networks. Your users login to their cloud hosted remote browsers and browse the internet through them as they would normally, but without exposing themselves to the associated risks.
Regardless of who you use to physically isolate your browser, I recommend that you start doing it immediately and close the windows that cybercriminals use to climb through and enter your organization to steal. According to both Gartner and Ponemon, organizations that do isolate their internet browsing will experience a 70% reduction in attacks on end user systems.
Put a WEBGAP between you and the malware with a browser isolation technology or by leveraging a remote browser service.
