The Enterprise Browser Gap: Are Browsers Secure Enough for Hybrid Work?

Do you really need an enterprise-grade browser?

In the hybrid era, enterprise-grade browsers are now mandatory

The rise of hybrid work means many of us multitask all day long, mixing work and personal without much thought. This means downloading sensitive data and watching our favorite show on the same device, usually with the same browser. Users love it, and they’re getting their work done. So, what’s the problem?

This article looks at how browser security has become more critical than ever in a hybrid work world, exploring the potential risks of consumer browsers and discussing how enterprise-grade browsers can help.

Browsers drive critical productivity–and critical risk

As computing innovation accelerates, from the cloud to AR/VR to AI to whatever comes next, lots of shiny new technologies get all the attention. All the while, the hardworking browser has become the center of our digital world, helping us explore, create, and communicate.

This is especially true for enterprise users, where the browser is effectively the new ‘business machine’. Even as we see 85% of business software is now consumed via SaaS, we often take the browser for granted, forgetting the critical role it plays in productivity and security.

• Browsers know almost everything about us, collecting everything from preferences and browsing history to stored credentials.
• Browsers are also used to access nearly every important business application and service, putting them in the middle of a lot of very sensitive workflows
• We love to customize our browsing experience, often by adding plug-ins and other tools that shape the browsing experience

We live and work inside browsers. While organizations might not always remember the critical role browsers play in overall enterprise security, attackers definitely haven’t.

• They relentlessly pursue those stored credentials and passwords. Lots of famous breaches, including Colonial Pipeline, were driven by browser exploits.
• The browser’s place in most workflows makes it the ideal place to launch ‘man in the middle’ (MiTM) attacks where information is manipulated to drive a breach
• All those plug-ins and tools are a tremendous opportunity for trouble, especially if users are installing unauthorized, untested software.
• Attackers can use everything from malware disguised as ads to fake phishing sites to trick us into taking actions we wouldn’t normally take.

Even with all these dangers lurking, users are generally unaware. More importantly, the enterprise doesn’t know anything either. So, what does the alternative look like? What can enterprise-grade browsers offer that consumer ones don’t?

Empowering users + protecting the business: what exactly makes a browser enterprise grade?

Like a well-managed corporate device, enterprise-grade browsers ensure both usability and security.

• Users get to work largely how they want, even customizing their browsing experience and mixing business and personal activities. This maximizes user productivity.

• IT gets to use the browser to defend users and the organization against risks, while also increasing collective threat intelligence. This maximizes organizational control.

So, what do enterprise-grade browsers offer that consumer browsers can’t? Let’s look at some specifics.

Enterprise-grade browsers keep IT in control

A well-managed browser gives IT control over what’s done with it, as well as visibility into changes made to it. IT also gets enhanced detection and response (XDR) at the endpoint, and the browser becomes another sensor, making security teams more effective against threats.

This happens because the organization manages the browser (and user behavior) via policy. Integrating the browser into other security fundamentals (like access control, etc.) automates a lot of the decision-making and action-taking that go into smart security operations.

Finally, an enterprise-grade browser is adaptive. This means it’s automatically updated as new versions and features are available and instantly patched with new security. The browser also keeps IT and security updated with continuous and complete logging and telemetry data.

Enterprise-grade browsers better detect and defend against threats

Browsers are under continuous attack from very smart people. Using a secure browser helps the organization detect and defend against threats while protecting important data and credentials from extraction by attackers with credential vaults and DLP (data lost protection) controls.

These features include integrated defenses against malware as well as anti-phishing controls that help users spot fake sites or even fake messages. This means that even if a user visits unauthorized sites or opens the wrong message, a threat’s blast radius can be dramatically reduced.

Enterprise-grade browsers empower stronger identity and access controls

Enterprise-grade browsers ensure only authorized users can access data and applications, especially when they’re sensitive. They integrate both single-sign on (SSO) and MFA (multi-factor authentication) controls that plug into your identity/access management suite. The browser can also implement conditional access to add even more security.

The browser can also be compartmentalized as required, with all sessions carefully managed. This might mean completely segregating personal and work browsing sessions or also isolating and quarantining a browser when suspicious activity is detected. Both are especially important for BYOD organizations.

How does consumer browser risk happen in the real world?

Sounds good in principle. But are consumer browsers really that risky? Let’s look at a real-world example.

While Julie used to be fully remote, in the last two years, she’s now in the office two days a week. As a result, she is rarely without her laptop, which she’s carefully customized and personalized. Julie loves this freedom, and IT doesn’t seem to care–until something goes wrong.

It might happen like this:

1. Julie starts the morning checking in with friends. She’s normally a responsible computer user, but today she’ll thoughtlessly click an email link and malware gets downloaded.
2. After that, she logs into work. Julie downloads sensitive client data and heads to Bloomberg for analysis, collaborating with colleagues via the cloud. That malware follows her, stealing credentials and sensitive data.
3. At lunch, it’s time for a little online shopping. The malware shows up here too, stealing her payment and monitoring her for any other valuable data.
4. At the end of the day, Julie closes her laptop and begins to prepare dinner. Somewhere else in the world, attackers are taking what they’ve learned and preparing plans to do their worst with:

• Sensitive client data
• Access to systems with even more data
• A better understanding of the organization’s security (or lack thereof)
• Julie’s payment details

We know something bad comes next, even if we don’t know what or when. And since IT wasn’t managing the browser, they don’t know either. That’s a very serious risk, but it’s also easily solvable by adopting a secure browser across the org.

What would an enterprise-grade browser change?

If Julie worked with an enterprise-grade browser, lots of things about the day would go differently.

1. To start, it’s quite possible her personal and work browsing would be completely and virtually segregated from each other. This is a powerful line of defense.
2. But even if she is visiting non-work sites inside her work browser, she’s still protected against credential theft and malware.
3. Additionally, when she does visit work sites, Julie can be required to use both SSO and MFA to comply with existing policies. And, if she logs in from a strange location (or even the wrong time of the day), additional conditional controls can be put in place.
4. As she collaborates with colleagues down the hall and around the world via the cloud, advanced data loss protection (DLP) controls keep sensitive data where it belongs. This is especially important in the era of AI, with more data in more places.

All this happens with Julie changing almost nothing about how she works, and all of those advanced defenses and controls are built right into the browser. This is why it’s “enterprise-grade”.

As hybrid work becomes the official new normal, the security gap is growing

Whether it was the rise of remote work or just inattention to detail, there are probably more browsers working inside most businesses than IT realizes. This is an especially risky aspect of “shadow IT”, especially given the predominance of SaaS already discussed. Now that the “return to office” is underway, the number of browsers will probably only increase, not decrease.

Remote work makes the problem even worse. More users, connecting from more locations and more devices, accessing sensitive data and IP. The AI moment makes the challenge even sharper, with more sensitive information being shared across the enterprise, and organizations simply aren’t ready

Attackers are tuned into this as well, and a rise in browser-focused attacks are proof. Every unmanaged browser inside your organization increases their chances of success, but an enterprise-grade browser can go a long way in slowing attackers down. Security leaders love to talk about perimeters—and the browser is now probably the most critical.

Enterprise-grade browsers are no longer optional for businesses

For almost every risk mentioned in this article, there are theoretical controls and defenses that can be put into place to mitigate the threat. You can always add another system, analyze another log, or deploy new defenses that make complex security stacks even more complicated and costly.

The smartest way is obviously solving all these threats inside the browser. Enterprise-grade browsers do exactly that. And, as threats multiply and AI drives the stakes around data and system security even higher, higher standards are no longer optional. No matter the size of your business, your browsers better be enterprise-grade.