One of the most important factors in cloud web security, indeed in any area of online security, is keeping your network free from malware. To achieve this, you need to take a multilayered approach to keep your network secure and protect it from online threats. Unfortunately, there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution.
Within the multilayered approach, there is one element that is key to keeping your network free from malware – an effective Internet filter. “Surely all Internet filters are designed to be effective?” you may ask. Technically you are right. However, there are certain features that an Internet filter needs to have in order to be truly effective – namely ease of use, flexibility, and SSL inspection.
Why Ease of Use and Flexibility are Important
Whatever cybersecurity solutions you implement in your multilayered approach to provide cloud web security, they have to be easy to use and flexible. If they are too complicated to use, mistakes will be made in their configuration and application. In terms of Internet filtering, this could result in filtering out access to business-critical websites or applications or conversely leaving gateways open for cybercriminals.
Similarly, without flexibility, the filter’s parameters could be set too high – again blocking access to business-critical online activities – or, if relaxed too much, gaps could appear in your cloud web security to allow the deployment of malware and ransomware. In order to ascertain whether any solution is easy to use and flexible, always take advantage of any free trials to conduct your own evaluations.
Cloud Web Security and SSL Inspection
SSL inspection is a must if an Internet filter is going to be fully effective. The SSL inspection process decrypts, reads, and re-encrypts the content of encrypted websites to ensure they do not contain threats to the network and to ensure that any requests to visit an encrypted website comply with acceptable use policies. It can delay Internet speed but is an essential process to ensure cloud web security.
Without SSL inspection, Internet filters would be unable to read the content of encrypted pages and, not recognizing any present threats or breaches of an acceptable use policy, would allow access to the website. IN 2021, more than 46 million websites used SSL and 95% of websites on Google use SSL. With more than half of the world’s most-visited websites now encrypted, any cloud web security solution that lacks SSL inspection is going to be less than 50% effective at identifying online threats. Bear in mind that 70% of malware campaigns in 2020 used some form of encryption.
Why Cloud-Based Internet Filters are Faster
Although there may be little difference between the ease of use and flexibility of hardware-based, software-based, or cloud-based Internet filters, cloud-based Internet filters are undoubtedly faster when it comes to the SSL inspection process. This is because any strain on CPU resources affects the cloud provider’s servers rather than those of the business. End users will notice no Internet speed reduction.
Cloud-based Internet filters are just as powerful as hardware-based and software-based filtering solutions, and can similarly be managed from a centralized web-based portal. They have the same malicious URL detection and phishing protection to maximize online security, just – like many functions that have been deployed in the cloud – everything is easier to manage and faster.
Cloud-Based Internet Filters from TitanHQ
TitanHQ offers businesses a choice of two cloud-based Internet filters – WebTitan Cloud to protect fixed networks, and WebTitan Cloud for WiFi hotspot providers to protect the users that connect to them and control the content that can be accessed. Both are deployed via a redirection of the business’s DNS server settings, and both have auto-configuration features so that you can be enhancing your cloud web security within minutes. T
Because of how our cloud-based Internet filters are deployed, they are compatible with all networks and operating systems. They can support up to 60,000 users with no loss of Internet speed or bandwidth restrictions; and, being specifically designed for ease of use, both WebTitan Cloud and WebTitan Cloud for WiFi can be integrated with Active Directory to set user policies immediately. The WebTitan network of 500 million users ensures over 99.9% coverage of the active web. It is also easy to protect remote workers by installing the WebTitan On-the-Go agent on their devices. That will ensure policies are applied no matter where they connect to the Internet.
Enhance Your Cloud Web Security Free for Fourteen Days
If you have not yet decided on the components of your multilayered cloud web security solution, are struggling to protect against online threats due to your current Internet filter lacking ease of use, flexibility, or SSL inspection, or are finding your current filtering solution too slow, speak with us about a free, fourteen-day trial of WebTitan´s cloud-based Internet filters.
Our team of industry-leading Sales Technicians will be happy to answer any questions you have about cloud web security and how cloud-based Internet filters can protect your network and make Internet filtering easier and faster. We will explain the additional features of our cloud-based Internet filters – such as malicious URL detection and phishing protection – and discuss which of our cloud-based solutions would be most appropriate for your circumstances. You can also try our anti-spam software to keep your inboxes free from spam and malicious emails.
Once all your questions are answered, our Sales Technicians will guide you through the registration process for your free trial and will be on hand if you need help deploying our cloud-based Internet filters or experience any issues finding the optimum filter settings. For many businesses, WebTitan Cloud and WebTitan Cloud for WiFi will ultimately become an integral part of a cloud web security solution. Find out today if WebTitan should be part of your cloud web security solution as well.
FAQs
What is the difference between a web filter and a DNS filter?
A DNS filter is a type of web filter. Web filters block access to certain types of content by URL – through blacklists – and use category-based filtering, where certain categories of website cannot be accessed – pornography for example. A DNS filter performs the filtering using the Domain Name Service, without having to download content. A DNS filter has zero latency, whereas other types of web filters may slow internet speeds.
What is URL filtering?
URL filtering is one of the mechanisms used by web filters to restrict access to certain types of web content. A URL filter will block access to specific URLs contained in one or more blacklists or that contain certain keywords, whereas a DNS filter will block DNS queries.
Is it possible to bypass the WebTitan filtering policy?
TitanHQ has created cloud keys, which can be created and issued by administrators to allow certain content filtering policies to be temporarily bypassed. Cloud keys are time-limited and can be used to access web content that would normally be prohibited, with the administrator controlling which restrictions are lifted.
Can WebTitan be extended to cover remote workers?
Yes. WebTitan Cloud and WebTitan Cloud for Wi-Fi can be used to apply content controls for wired and Wi-Fi networks on-premises. WebTitan Cloud can also protect remote workers through WebTitan On-the-Go. WebTitan On-the-Go is a lightweight roaming agent that can be installed on devices to allow off-network roaming while continuing to apply the WebTitan Cloud policy.
What is the installation process for WebTitan?
First, you need to login through your customer portal, then add in your location(s) and IP address (es), then you need to set your policy, install the WebTitan SSL certificate, then redirect your DNS requests to WebTitan Cloud. The process should take around 30 minutes.
