What is Browser Isolation? (Definition, Types, and Usage)


What is Browser Isolation?

It is predicted that more than half of businesses will deliberately begin to isolate their internet usage to lessen the effect of cyberattacks. Browser isolation solutions are one of the most effective strategies for a company to prevent web-based assaults. With this in mind, let's take a deeper look at what browser isolation is and why security-conscious enterprises are increasingly adopting remote browser isolation.

Browser isolation is a web surfing security concept that allows users to physically isolate their browsing activities from their local system, network, and infrastructure. Individual browser sessions are separated away from hardware and direct internet access in this architecture, confining malicious activities within the disposable environment. Remote browser isolation, web isolation, and remote surfing are all terms used to describe browser isolation.

Protection from online or browser-based threats, malware, and ransomware is a key flaw in current security measures. Browser isolation technology was created in order to address this flaw. The device's attack surface is decreased, sensitive data is safeguarded, and malware and other known and unknown security dangers are mitigated by isolating browsing activity from endpoint hardware. This is the next step in the evolution of cybersecurity principles such as physical isolation and air-gapping.

How Does Browser Isolation Work?

Browser Isolation is implemented differently by different manufacturers. However, in general, Browser Isolation works in the following way −

  • Taking a user's surfing behavior off their computer and running it in a virtual environment.

  • Automatically delete the browser environment at the conclusion of each browsing session, ensuring that any dangerous content encountered by the user is removed at the end of the session.

  • When the user reconnects to the safe virtual browser, he or she is presented with a fresh, malware-free picture. While this isn't a need for Browser Isolation to work, it's almost certainly a standard feature in many implementations.

Browser Isolation is comparable to the difference between a fighter pilot and a drone pilot. A drone pilot can do almost whatever a fighter pilot can do, but without ever having to fly into a conflict zone and risking his or her life. It's like being a drone pilot when you use Browser Isolation. You can access the web from a faraway place, keeping your network safe, but it will seem like you're there in the thick of things.

Advantages of Browser Isolation

  • Downloads that are potentially dangerous are removed.

  • Scripts that are malicious do not run on a device or on a private network.

  • Through the browser, zero-day exploits are prohibited.

  • Without needing to block whole websites, malicious web material may be prohibited.

  • A zero-day exploit is an attack that makes use of a previously unknown or unpatched vulnerability. Zero-day exploits are nearly tough to block, despite their rarity.

What Are the Different Types of Browser Isolation?

Browser isolation may be divided into three types, they are as follows: remote (or cloud-hosted), on-premise, and client-side.

Remote Browser (or Cloud-Hosted) Isolation

Remote browser (or cloud-hosted) isolation technology loads webpages and runs any JavaScript code linked with them on a cloud server, far away from user devices and internal networks.

On-Premise Browser Isolation

On-premise browser isolation accomplishes the same goal but on a server that is managed internally by an enterprise.

Client-Side Browser Isolation

Client-side browser isolation runs webpages on a user's device, but it does so by virtualizing or sandboxing website code and content from the rest of the device.

The user's browsing session is wiped when the browser isolation approach is used. Thus, any dangerous cookies or downloads linked with the session are removed.

What Are the Dangers That Browser Isolation Protects Against?

HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code are used to create all web pages and web apps. JavaScript is a full programming language, whereas HTML and CSS are markup languages that merely give formatting instructions. Many of the functionality seen in current online apps are made possible via JavaScript. It can, however, be used maliciously. Since most online browsers execute all JavaScript linked with a page, malicious JavaScript is very harmful.

JavaScript may be used to carry out a variety of assaults. The following are a few of the most common:

Drive-by downloads

Simply loading a webpage causes a malicious payload to be downloaded. Drive-by downloads typically take advantage of a browser vulnerability that hasn't been fixed.

Malvertising

It is the injection of malicious code into lawful ad networks. When fraudulent advertising is shown, the code is executed, and users are frequently routed to malicious websites. Malvertising may affect even legal, heavily frequented websites because harmful malware is mistakenly distributed by reputable ad networks.

Clickjacking

Clickjacking can be used to earn fictitious ad income, redirect users to a dangerous website, or even start a malware download. A webpage is created in such a way that a person is tricked into clicking on something they didn't plan to.

Redirect Attacks

It is another common in-browser attacks (which may or may not use JavaScript). It occurs when a user tries to load a valid URL but is instead diverted to an attacker-controlled URL.

Updated on: 14-Apr-2022

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