Enterprise browsers play a critical role in the modern enterprise: they both reduce security risks while simultaneously maintaining productivity. As web-based threats like phishing, malware, and malicious extensions evolve, organizations must adopt smarter, more proactive measures to protect their data and users.
Equipped with advanced features, enterprise browsers ensure attack surface reduction. They minimize vulnerabilities, enforce security policies, protect against malicious browser extensions, and provide seamless workflows. In this post, we’ll dive into the key methods provided by enterprise browser security to reduce the attack surface.
Reducing the Attack Surface for Enterprise Browsers: Key Methods
Browser-based risks are a growing concern in today’s interconnected digital environment. One familiar example is phishing websites that mimic legitimate ones, tricking users into revealing their credentials or other sensitive information, often bypassing detection by disguising themselves with near-identical URLs or designs.
Another major concern is malicious browser extensions, which disguise themselves as useful tools but can steal sensitive information, track browsing activity, or inject malicious scripts. These extensions exploit the trust users place in their browser and can bypass traditional security controls, accessing data like passwords or session cookies.
Browser session hijacking and account takeover are significant risks as well. Attackers can exploit stolen session cookies or vulnerabilities in browser settings to impersonate users and gain account access without requiring passwords. Additionally, many browsers store login credentials, making them prime targets for malware or unauthorized access.
Regularly monitoring browser and user activity, implementing enterprise browser policies at a granular level, and educating users about these risks are critical steps in mitigating these threats.
Here are the key methods enterprise browsers use for threat prevention:
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- Controlling Access to Web Resources: Enterprise browsers use URL filtering and advanced page analysis to identify phishing and malware threats. These capabilities allow security teams to disable, block, or alert users about risky resources, helping organizations minimize exposure to malicious websites.
- Enforcing Browsing Policies: Enterprise browsers enable the implementation of organization-wide policies aligned with security protocols. For example, these policies can restrict downloads of potentially malicious files, uploads of files with sensitive information, and actions like copying, pasting, or entering sensitive data.
- Blocking Malicious Extensions: Enterprise browsers monitor new and existing extensions for suspicious behavior, such as unauthorized access to sensitive files, clipboard data, or exfiltrating information. Risky extensions and actions are then identified and blocked in real-time.
- Credential Management: Enterprise browsers monitor the use of credentials in SaaS applications and websites to prevent access control issues like password reuse, account sharing, compromised credentials, shadow identities, use of personal credentials for work purposes, weak passwords, and other security vulnerabilities.
- Visibility into Shadow SaaS: Enterprise browsers offer visibility into applications used across the organization, identifying unauthorized app usage. This supports IT governance and serves as a tool for auditing purposes.
- Protecting BYOD and Third-Party Devices: Enterprise browsers enforce organizational security policies on browsers on any device, whether managed or unmanaged. They can block risky websites, prevent data uploads, and enforce other security measures, ensuring protection across all devices. Therefore they can secure managed and unmanaged devices alike.
- Real-Time Monitoring and Threat Detection: Enterprise browsers continuously analyze user activity to identify signs of malicious behavior or policy violations. They detect anomalies, such as unusual file download patterns, and enforce policies like restricting the pasting of source code. Security teams receive instant notifications about suspicious activity, enabling faster incident response. Additionally, browsers can be configured to block risky behavior in real time.
- Integration with Security Tools: Enterprise browsers are designed to work seamlessly with existing security infrastructure, strengthening overall defense systems. This includes SIEM tools, IdPs, and more.
- AI-powered Protection from Web Attacks: Modern enterprise browsers leverage AI engines to analyze web pages and objects in real time. They can block malicious elements for comprehensive web attack protection and secure browsing.
Benefits and Use Cases
The granular and continuous protection provided by enterprise browsers allows IT and security teams to benefit from phishing protection, data security and SaaS security, among others. This includes:
- Visibility Into Browser Blind Spots: Organizations gain comprehensive visibility and control over identities, accounts, applications, data, and user activity within the browser workspace. For enterprise browsers implemented as extensions , this includes monitoring other browser extensions. This capability supports policy enforcement, transforming the browser into a secure working environment.
- Protection Against Browser Security Risks and Vulnerabilities: Enterprise browsers protect against phishing, credential theft, malware, malicious browser extensions, and account takeovers. They also prevent browsing risks likeweb, SaaS, and GenAI data leakage, unauthorized 3rd-party access, and shadow SaaS usage. No other security solution provides these security capabilities.
- Seamless User Experience: Certain enterprise browsers allow the workforce to operate without disruptions. Users can maintain their existing software or workflows, with no need for changes to network architecture or endpoint software deployment.
These features are particularly valuable for addressing the following organizational needs:
- GenAI DLP: Supporting productivity by enabling the safe use of GenAI websites, SaaS apps, and extensions, while preventing unauthorized data leakage. Real-time protection prevents employees from inputting, copying, or uploading sensitive company data into tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and others.
- Web DLP: Allowing safe and secure browsing for the workforce, mitigating risks such as phishing and malware risks.
- Shadow SaaS Data Leakage: Providing IT with visibility into all SaaS apps used by employees, ensuring IT governance and preventing data exposure.
- Identity & Password Protection: Preventing the use of insecure credentials to protect against account takeovers and identity compromise.
- Secure Access to SaaS and Web Apps: Enforcing corporate identity rules and ensuring apps are accessed only through SSO and MFA-secured identities.
- Malicious Extension Protection: Allowing productivity by supporting the use of extensions while preventing the installation of risky browser extensions that could compromise sensitive information, such as passwords and cookies.
- BYOD Protection: Allowing organizations to securely work and collaborate with contractors or remote employees by enforcing organizational security policies on all devices, including those used by external or remote workers.
- Secure 3rd-party Access: Offering a browser extension for authentication, enabling secure, least-privilege access to SaaS and web applications without the need for expensive VPNs or VDIs. This solution is ideal for employees and third parties, regardless of location or device.
Conclusion
Enterprise browsers equip organizations to address today’s security challenges while maintaining productivity. With granular control, real-time monitoring, and seamless integration, they enable IT teams to create a secure and efficient digital workspace. From preventing GenAI data leakage to managing BYOD security and enforcing SaaS access policies, enterprise browsers are invaluable tools for reducing risk and ensuring safe, seamless operations.
LayerX delivers comprehensive protection for all web-borne threats with continuous monitoring, risk analysis, and real-time enforcement on any event and user activity in the browsing session. Enterprises leverage these capabilities to secure their devices, identities, data, and SaaS apps from web-borne threats and browsing risks that endpoint and network solutions can’t protect against.
These include blocking data leakage over the web, SaaS apps and GenAI tools, prevention of credential theft from phishing, enforcement of secure access to SaaS resources by the internal or external workforce to mitigate the risk of account takeover, discovery and disablement of malicious browser extensions, Shadow SaaS, and more.
The LayerX enterprise-designed architecture enables seamless scalability as it doesn’t require agents or proxies and natively integrates with any browser. As a browser extension, LayerX delivers 100% coverage to any browser session, with no blind spots to its threat prevention, DLP, and secure access capabilities. In a similar manner, it ensures full visibility into every installed browser extension and into user activities.
