Protecting HTTP Traffic: Why Web Filtering Should Be Your First Line of Defense

Technical Paper
www.securecomputing.com
®Secure Computing has been solving the most dif?cult network and Protecting HTTP traf?c: application security challenges for over 20 years. We help our customers Why Web ?ltering should be your ?rst line of defensecreate trusted environments both inside and outside their organizations.
Table of contentsIntroduction .........................................................................................................................2
Access and security: a tradeoff? .............................................................................................2
Key drivers of corporate security policy .................................................................................3
Risks to the network ..............................................................................................................5
A word on attacks from inside ...............................................................................................6
Sophisticated attacks ............................................................................................................6
How SmartFilter Web ?ltering stops sophisticated attacks .....................................................7
Controlling user access and privileges ...................................................................................8Secure Computing Corporation SmartFilter: an important component of a successful IT security strategy ..............................8Corporate Headquarters4810 Harwood RoadSan Jose, CA 95124 USA Conclusion ...........................................................................................................................9Tel +1.800.379.4944Tel +1.408.979.6100Fax +1.408.979.6501European HeadquartersEast Wing, Piper HouseHatch LaneWindsor SL4 3QP UKTel +44.1753.410900Fax +44.1753.410901Asia/Pac Headquarters1604-5 MLC Tower248 Queen's East RoadWan Chai Hong KongTel +852.2520.2422Fax +852.2587.1333Japan HeadquartersLevel 15 JT Bldg.2-2-1 Toranoman Minato-KuTokyo 105-0001 JapanTel +81.3.5114.8224Fax +81.3.5114.8226© November 2005 Secure Computing Corporation. All Rights Reserved. SF-MLCS-TP-Nov05vF. Secure Computing, SafeWord, Sidewinder, SmartFilter, Type Enforcement, SofToken, SecureSupport, SecureOS, MobilePass, G2 Firewall, Bess, Sidewinder G2, enterprise strong, PremierAccess, and Strikeback are trademarks of Secure Computing Corporation, registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. G2 Enterprise Manager, Application Defenses, RemoteAccess, On-Box, Power-It-On!, Sentian, and Securing connections between people, applications, and networks are trademarks of Secure Computing Corporation. All other trademarks used herein belong to their respective owners.Introduction Access vs. security: A tradeoff?Access to the Internet brings tremendous value Clearly, the competitive bene?ts enjoyed by a to any organization, not just as a means of global company that makes full use of the Internet will be communication, but as a way to enable employees to diminished if access is completely denied. Very few access competitive information, and research markets companies could even survive without the Internet and opportunities. It further empowers organizations in today's business climate. Yet, allowing unrestricted www.securecomputing.com to strengthen relationships with key vendors, clients access brings massive risks of ?nancial loss and legal and suppliers by creating secure remote connections liability. There is a tradeoff between security and via VPNs and extranets, through which critical access that IT and security of?cers must address, as information can be shared with organizations outside shown in Figure 1 below. of the corporate walls.But along with those vital competitive advantages, High Security Lowemployee access to the Internet and all of its related applications-most of all Web sur?ng-poses serious productivity, liability, and security concerns. Productivity and liability concerns have been Unplugged from Corporate Complete network recognized for years now, but of serious concern is network; Cryptography Security Policy access; No passwordsthe growing security threat to which organizations are controlled access exposed when their employees browse the Internet. Unrestricted, such browsing opens doors that allow viruses, Trojans, spyware, and other malware int... [download for more]