You’d be forgiven for thinking one security browser is much like another. But you’d be doing yourself (and your organisation) a disservice by confusing what they do and how they provide protection.
The secure browser technologies you’ve probably read about are RBI (Remote Browser Isolation) and Enterprise Browsers (EB). Our know-it-all guide discusses what they are, what they do differently, and some use cases.
The what’s what of RBIs
RBI is a security technology that separates web browsing activities from your local network and endpoint device.
How does an RBI work?
The clues to how an RBI works are in the name. RBI does its job by running your browsing sessions on remote servers instead of your device, so the two are isolated by a physical distance (think of it as an air-gap approach).
At the remote server end, the 3rd party cloud service deals with any malicious code on a web page.
At the device end, it’s business-as-usual. The web search results are served back up to you as a sanitised, infection-free data stream. What you see looks exactly the same as the web page you were opening, but it’s safe. You can interact with it, scroll and click to your heart’s content, without risk. Any malicious content on the page or site is neutralised (for example, anything that could introduce malware, ransomware, or phishing attacks to your environment) and never makes it back to your endpoint device or local systems.
The RBI good stuff
- Keeping the baddies at bay: By isolating any identified or potential threats in a remote environment, an RBI effectively ensures that malicious code never reaches your endpoint device.
- Confident compliance and controls: RBI enforces your data protection policies. Your admins can monitor all user activities and control access to high-risk websites by implementing security policies. This means you can be confident about complying with industry standards and keeping your data safe.
- No noticeable changes: You and your fellow users are unlikely to notice any change in ease of browsing when using an RBI, as they’re compatible with your existing browsers. So there’s nothing to impact productivity or security.
The RBI roundup
In summary, an RBI fences off any web traffic it identifies as risky and/or suspicious. It protects you against web-based nasties, and prevents those accidental drive-by downloads (oops, I didn’t mean to click on that!) and zero-day exploits.
The what’s what of Enterprise Browsers
An EB is a customised corporate browser that your organisation configures, controls, and manages.
How does an EB work?
An enterprise browser is designed specifically for workplaces. It’s optimised to serve the needs of your users while embedding your core security, IT, and productivity capabilities into a natural browsing experience. And it’s compatible with all of your enterprise applications.
An EB provides your users secure access to your web-based corporate resources while protecting sensitive data. This can be done by restricting the copy, paste, and print, so personal details of fellow employees or customers, for example, can’t be shared deliberately or accidentally.
Your admin team can also block specific or suspicious websites, isolate browsing sessions, obscure sensitive data, and control what you can download.
The highlights of the EB good stuff
- Easy and comprehensive admin: With an EB, your IT admins don’t need to manage individual browsers – they can manage its settings, enforce protocols, and monitor activities from a central console. They can also remotely configure browser settings and roll out updates so you’re always using the most up-to-date and secure version. They can also apply (and enforce) browsing policies across all your users and devices.
- Heavy-duty threat detection and safe browsing: EBs can detect and block malicious websites, phishing attempts, and malware downloads – all in real-time. Like an RBI, EBs offer sandboxing and isolated browsing sessions to protect against threats, so malicious activities never make it to your devices or systems.
- Encrypt to protect: EBs provide end-to-end encryption of data transmitted between the browser and web servers, so it can’t be intercepted while in transit.
- Leak-proof and private!: Built-in Data Loss Prevention (DLP) tools prevent your sensitive data from being leaked or shared outside your organisation, either in error or deliberately. Additionally, features like private browsing, cookie management, and do-not-track requests protect the privacy of your users.
- One set of login credentials and authorised access: Ready integration with SSO (single sign-on) solutions means your user can access the EB and your corporate resources using a single set of credentials. And integration with IAM (identity access management) systems means you can decide on and control who can access what.
- Easy to keep an eye on things: Not only will an EB provide detailed logs of your user activities and web usage (to help monitor compliance), but it will also generate detailed audit trails. So, if needed for compliance reporting or forensic analysis, you can see who did what.
The EB roundup
In summary, EBs offer comprehensive security features for a corporate environment. In addition to secure access to corporate resources, sensitive apps and intranets, they support a BYOD strategy, which is great if you work with contractors (and their potentially unmanaged and infected endpoints). EBs provide centralised management capabilities and productivity tools, designed to align with both the needs of your IT team and your business. And they also ensure that you adhere strictly to industry regulations and your corporate governance standards.
So, which one is right for you?
Yes, this is the big question. RBI and EB offer some great features and benefits, but it’s critical to consider how those benefits align with your business needs. It’s all about use case.
Some rule-of-thumb guidelines are:
- Do you need deep data-control, SaaS posture, native performance, offline use, or must integrate with lots of endpoint controls? In that case, choose EB. It’s just easier.
- Is your primary concern zero-trust web code execution and other web-based threats? Answer: Choose RBI. EB is the better choice if a more balanced approach is needed (with centralised management and productivity tools).
- Do you have untrusted external users or BYOD contractors accessing internal/SaaS apps? In this case, both EB and RBI will help. EB enforces strong controls on the local browser, while RBI lets them work without anything installed. So, make your decision based on whether you are willing/able to install a browser on those devices.
- You trust your managed endpoint, but want deep controls over the browser channel? Answer: EB. However, if you don’t trust the endpoints, RBI will render everything away from it, whereas EB can ensure the device meets minimum compliance to be trusted.
- Is some latency ok? Or is pixel streaming, latent keystrokes or degraded video/audio unacceptable? Answer: Go for EB.
- Do you need granular data-protection controls (different policies per SaaS tenant, watermarking, safe download re-encryption, prevent printing for only certain user groups, productivity tracking, detailed audit logs)? Answer: EB.
- Do your people travel? Do they need to work securely while flying, in the field, or at sea? Answer: EB all the way – it caches offline, whereas RBI simply isn’t available without an internet connection.
- You want to scale, but maintain predictable costs? Answer: EB due to license per user or device, no heavy compute charges and more.
- Is data residency important to you? Answer: RBI can ensure rendering occurs in a specified region with no cache on the device.
There are lots of other Q&As to consider, but we suggest you give us a call to discuss your organisation and your needs. We get that no two businesses are alike, and we’re happy to point you in the right direction.
