The Importance Of Internet Security
The COVID-19 pandemic drove a massive shift towards remote work, which changed where and how employees work and use digital resources. With widespread remote work, many employees are working from outside the enterprise network and its built-in cyber defenses, such as the corporate firewall.
As a result, remote workers are at an increased risk of being exposed to cyberattacks delivered over the Internet. Internet security solutions are needed to detect and block these threats before they can compromise employees’ computers and use them to gain access to corporate data or move laterally into the enterprise network.
Internet Security Threats
The Internet carries numerous types of risks for an organization. Some of the leading threats include:
- Malware: The Internet is one of the primary delivery mechanisms for malware, which can be embedded in malicious or compromised websites or attached to an email. Once malware has gained access to a system, it can encrypt or steal data, impair system functionality, hijack the infected system or take other actions to hurt an organization.
- Phishing: Phishing emails are a leading delivery mechanism for malware and a common form of social engineering used for data theft. This Internet-based attack vector is common and effective because it targets the person behind the computer, attempting to trick or coerce them into doing the attacker’s bidding.
- Data Loss: Data can be stolen from an organization over the Internet in various ways. Malware may collect or steal information; through human error, an employee may accidentally divulge it; or a user may send themselves or store sensitive enterprise and customer data within personal accounts (such as online storage and webmail accounts).
- Credential Compromise: Cybercriminals collect user credentials to gain access to corporate systems or log into online accounts. Credentials can be stolen via data breaches of user databases, collected via phishing sites or compromised through credential stuffing or through guessing weak and reused passwords.
- Malicious Websites: Many sites on the Internet are malicious or inappropriate for business use. Employees visiting these sites on corporate machines could be infected with malware, compromise their credentials, or access inappropriate or illegal content on company-owned systems.
Components Of Internet Security
Internet security solutions should provide comprehensive protection against Internet-borne cyber threats. Crucial capabilities include:
- URL Filtering: URL filtering solutions enable an organization to block users from visiting certain types of websites on company-owned machines. URL filtering can be used to block access to known-bad sites and to prevent employees from visiting sites with illegal or inappropriate content or ones that can negatively impact employee productivity (such as social media).
- Malicious Download Prevention: Malicious content can be downloaded from a website or attached to an email. An Internet security solution should detect and block malicious content en-route to the user’s device, before it enters the network or is downloaded to the user’s system, eliminating the threat to the organization. This typically involves a sandboxing solution.
- Anti-Bot Protection: If an employee’s computer is infected with a malware bot client, it may communicate with command and control (C2) servers or other bots controlled by an attacker. An internet security solution detects and blocks this malicious traffic.
- Data Loss Prevention: Employees may leak corporate data intentionally or inadvertently on malicious websites, via email, or through insecure cloud-based data storage. Internet security solutions should scan Internet traffic for sensitive and protected types of data and prevent them from being exposed outside of the organization.
- Phishing Protection: Phishing attacks are some of the most common cyberattacks and can have a significant impact on corporate cyber and data security. Internet security solutions should integrate email scanning and anti-phishing protections to identify and block suspected phishing emails from reaching the intended recipient’s inbox.
- Browser Exploit Prevention: Websites are able to run scripts within a user’s browser, which can exploit unpatched or zero-day browser vulnerabilities. Browser exploit prevention helps to detect and block the execution of this malicious code.
- Zero-Day Attack Prevention: Traditional, signature-based defenses protect against known exploits but are often blind to novel attacks. Zero-day attack prevention in an internet security solution detects and blocks novel attacks.
Internet Security With Check Point
Check Point Harmony Suite offers an integrated cybersecurity architecture providing protection against a range of cyber threats, including Internet threats. Check Point Harmony Browse enables employees to safely browse the Internet from anywhere using security integrated into the browser. Check Point Harmony SASE offers enterprise-level security delivered via a cloud-based secure web gateway (SWG) service.
Need help figuring out which to choose? Learn more about Harmony Browser by signing up for a free demo.
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