Cloud Web Security - Keeping Your Internal Network Safe

Malware, and virtually all other types of computer viruses took off with the rise of the internet. An internet network makes the transfer of data a much smoother process than ever before. This opened the door for hackers, and just about any type of digital thieves to transfer malware to different devices. With the amount of data that any given person or, company even, can keep on their internal networks, staying safe online is a must. These days malware doesn’t just make your computer slower. It can actually compromise all of the data that is linked to a network. Cloud web security options may just be your best bet to stay safe online.

Currently, most people are looking for a multi-layered way to achieve true cloud web security. While there are still traditional internet filters out there that you can download or add as hardware, using a cloud network to help you with security may just be the easiest way to protect a full network and not just one device. In simple terms, internet security has evolved quite a bit. Since the early days of parental control blocks, different types of software, and hardware options that served as internet filters. The main idea has always been to block access to sites that may put your network security at risk.

 

Traditional Internet Filters

Before we dive deep into the tangible benefits of cloud web security let’s take a look at some of its predecessors. These options are still available out there today. Since they are the traditional approach to staying safe online, a lot of people and companies still seek them out. Without necessarily realizing that they are extremely rigid when compared to the current tools that they could be using instead.

Traditional internet filters were typically installed on each device that was hooked up to a network. They could be hardware or software options. They in large part started as content filters. This meant that they would filter out sites that featured explicit content. In some cases, without necessarily accounting for potential malware threats in each of those sites.

What tended to happen with these types of internet filters is that they would eventually end up blocking a particular site that workers needed access to. So, companies would have to ultimately deactivate the protection to enable the users to navigate freely. Before you knew it the whole network ended up being exposed. This is not to say that internet filters that block explicit content aren’t necessary. They can certainly still be useful to certain industries. Current cloud web security, though, is aimed at spotting malware threats as you surf the web. Spotting potential issues no matter what type of content you happen to be viewing.

 

SSL Inspection In Modern Cloud Web Security Solutions          

Current cloud web security solutions don’t just filter sites based on content. Again, that could be something that serves a purpose in certain industries. There’s always going to be that one site that you need to access, but it gets tagged as explicit content. Modern cloud web solutions base their protection on SSL inspections. This allows a good cloud-based internet filter to essentially read between the lines. Particularly in encrypted web pages. To be able to spot any type of malware threat that may be present on a particular web page. In filtering specific types of content, particularly adult sites, you’re certainly providing “protection”. Particularly to try and avoid moral issues, and to keep folks at work and school from accessing these types of sites. These sites though are not the only ones that can present a malware threat.

With an active SSL inspection, good cloud web security can spot potential threats on any type of site. Just as internet security has evolved so have the efforts of cyber thieves. As was mentioned before, in today's world malware isn’t just going to slow down your computer. Current viruses can uncover your entire digital footprint, access personal data, and simplify identity theft.

This is, of course, the worst-case scenario in a personal device. If an entire network of computers gets infected massive amounts of data that an entire company shares through an internal network could be at risk. Malware can be found in all sorts of sites, not just ones featuring explicit content. That’s why SSL inspection in modern solutions happens to be so important.

 

Speed Is Another Important Factor To Consider 

Data storage, in general, is moving towards cloud-based platforms. Why is that the current trend? For the most part, this allows people to not have to store as much data on their individual devices. In keeping your CPU free of junk, you’re typically going to have a faster device to work with. That’s just one of the benefits of cloud storage. In this case, with security coming from a cloud-based service you also have a speed advantage. If you use an internet filter that is software or hardware-based, all of the data that the program collects particularly to create its DNS lists of blocked sites is going to be saved on your device or your internal network. This is typically going to make surfing the web a bit slower at some point.

When you’re using a web-based service naturally, all of the data that is being collected to be able to optimize the service is being stored on the servers of the company that’s offering you the protection. That essentially means that all that you need to do is make sure that you have a strong internet connection. This will allow the entire process to run smoothly. You won’t have to deal with optimizing and upgrading your internet filters locally. Pretty much all of the data that internet filters in general collect is junk. What they are doing is creating lists of sites that have been found to feature sketchy coding that may or may not include malware. Having all of that data saved outside of your own network is ideal.

 

Adapting Your Web Security To Current Working Trends  

In an office setting, installing an internet filter through hardware or software was a relatively “easy” thing to do. Essentially all of the people that actively worked in the organization had their own company-owned computer at their desk. All that you had to do was make sure that each device that was on the office floor was fitted with the right software to ensure that employees were not going to web pages that they shouldn’t.

If you had to grant access to a particular page that was blocked by the system, that was also something that you could do in-house through the tech department. With the rise of remote work though through the pandemic, keeping tabs on the internet activity of workers has certainly become much more difficult.

There are typically two options that a company has to tackle this type of problem. You can either buy laptops for everyone in the company. Make sure to configure them in a very similar manner to how things were set up in the traditional office setting. Send them off knowing that they could only use that device for work purposes. The investment that you may have had to put in as a company to get this done was potentially too steep. Particularly for smaller organizations. With a cloud web security solution, you can monitor and protect the web browsing activity of workers remotely. The cost for some of these solutions certainly isn’t as steep.

You can also create internal networks on different devices. To grant workers remote access to their work computer.  

 

TitanHQ Cloud Web Security Solutions

Currently, a few companies are offering cloud web security solutions. TitanHQ offers a couple of features in their products that could certainly set them apart. Ultimately, it’s important to understand that different companies will be looking for equally diverse solutions. With TitanHQ, you’ll get coverage for 60,000 users without a drop-off in internet speed.  This means that the network can be a great fit even for some larger companies out there.

They also offer solutions for remote workers that we were mentioning. With a true cloud-based solution, the SSL inspection is going to be run through the TitanHQ servers. This is certainly one of the main reasons why they can promise that speed isn’t going to drop off. At least not from your internal servers.

As a new company or user arriving to the network, you won’t have to craft a safety net. Trying to list all of the sites that you want company members to be barred from can be a hassle. TitanHQ already has a DNS blacklist of sites that you can implement in your network.

It also has an easy bypassing method to allow users to access certain sites that may have ended up on the naughty list by mistake. Without this, you’re going to be surfing without protection from then onward. On top of all of this, you can activate a 14-day free trial to see if the TitanHQ solutions work for you or your company. Signing up literally involves no risk, and no cost, why not try it today?