FEATURE : HYBRID WORKFORCES
Enabling business :
Why security needs ‘ grey ’ areas in the age of hybrid workforces
Modern workforces require security solutions that not only keep the business and its data secure , but which also ‘ enable ’ rather than halt productivity . California-based Mike Schuricht , VP of Product Management , Security Service Edge ( SSE ), Forcepoint , talks us through some of the key security challenges facing organizations and outlines how Forcepoint ONE helps to tackle these .
wpushed forward by COVID .
What security issues have evolved since the move to a hybrid and remote workforce and how does the Forcepoint ONE platform help to tackle these ?
For quite some time we ’ ve been seeing movement to SaaS adoption , with the shift from on-premise Exchange into Microsoft 365 a big catalyst . At the same time , there has been an on-going move to hybrid work ,
It ’ s clear that looking ahead , employees will work from everywhere . That changes the dynamic from a threat perspective as employees can now access SaaS applications from unmanaged devices – something that wouldn ’ t happen in an office – so there are new security issues that have to be resolved .
Forcepoint ONE allows organizations to enable more ‘ grey ’ scenarios , rather than a black and white approach , by permitting connections that can scale out and connect to people wherever they ’ re at .
This global network of Forcepoint ONE utilizes hyperscalers , so that it ’ s as close to the user as possible so they don ’ t experience any latency .
If , for example , an individual was looking at a presentation their boss told them about , the platform can block the ability to download the file , but users can still edit and collaborate with it .
Hybrid work is here to stay and we ’ re going to see more use cases emerge where organizations need security solutions that enable the business as opposed to the more Draconian allow / block scenario .
How does Forcepoint ONE provide seamless protection against today ’ s most advanced threats ?
From a threat perspective , things have changed . In a hybrid environment , if using a partner ’ s PC or different device , you can ’ t be sure that it has the required antivirus or other security measures in place .
Forcepoint ONE combines advanced capabilities to protect against these different security threats and scenarios . We have a number of OEMs that we combine with internal technology , as well as things like signature identification . If a file is malicious , for example , it can be blocked , or if you see behavior that ’ s atypical you can block and control it .
We also have the ability to add on capabilities like Machine Learning-based zero-day threat prevention .
Beyond that , there are also malicious URLs , whether sent via phishing or via someone attempting to access a site using an anonymous proxy , or a spam host . Being able to control and block those are key .
We also have a remote browser isolation – RBI – capability where perhaps a site doesn ’ t classify as malware but is unknown . In that scenario , you can push it through an isolation container and control what happens .
You could allow downloads , for example , but scan any files that come from an unknown site . Or perhaps use content disarm and reconstruction ( CDR ) technology to permit the download but strip out things that might be malicious on the fly .
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