2013 CHECK POINT ANNUAL SECURITY REPORT
03
_ APPLICATIONS IN THE ENTERPRISE WORKSPACE
028
Different Users have Different Needs
Different users in the organization have different needs,
and the security policy should support the business rather
than interfere with it. For example, a salesperson may use
Facebook to stay in touch with customers and business
partners; an IT staff member may log onto Facebook to get
the latest industry news. So how do companies ensure that
users have the access they need? Is it realistic to expect the
security manager to know what each individual user or user
group should or shouldn’t be accessing?
Apractical solution needs to have granular awareness of users,
groups and machines in order to distinguish the difference
between employees and non-employees (i.e. guests and
contractors).
Another important aspect of the solution is the capability
to engage and educate the end-users in real time as they use
the applications. When a user lands on a questionable site
or launches a questionable application, a pop-up message
can ask the user to justify the business need for doing so.
His or her response would then be logged and monitored.
The message can also educate the user on the company’s
usage policy, making him or her aware that the usage of such
applications are constantly monitored and may be subject to
future audits.
‘Understanding’ is a Critical Component
of Web Control
Administrators must have a clear overview of web security
events in order to ensure web control. As such, a security
solution needs to provide clear and broad visibility into all
web security events. The solution should provide visibility
and monitoring capabilities such as comprehensive event
timelines and lists. The list of events should be searchable
to allow efficient filtering, grouping and sorting by user,
application, category, risk level, bandwidth usage, time and
other criteria. As well, off-line reports depicting top used
categories, applications, websites and users should also be
available to facilitate trend and capacity planning.
Summary
The rules of the game have changed. Securing Web 2.0 is
no longer as simple as blocking an inappropriate URL or
stopping a certain application from running. Securing Web
2.0 requires an integrated approach to achieve multi-layered
protection. This system should incorporate technology
(i.e. URL filtering, application control, malware protection
and bot defense) with user awareness, user education and
sophisticated monitoring and event analysis tools that enable
administrators to maintain control at all times.
SECURING WEB 2.0
TAKES AN
INTEGRATED APPROACH OF URL
FILTERING, APPLICATION CONTROL,
USER AWARENESS, USER EDUCATION
AND A WAY OF HAVING ALL
WEB CONTROLS VISIBLE TO THE
ADMINISTRATOR
