Anyone working in cybersecurity knows that the end user is both the first line of defense against many major attack vectors… and often their target. Unfortunately, without the proper cybersecurity training and vigilance, end users can easily fall victim to attacks, putting the entire organization at risk.
Using a solution like Todyl SASE, however, cybersecurity professionals and MSPs can proactively take steps to reduce the risks end users introduce while surfing the web.
Whether through business email compromise (BEC) or clicking malicious links elsewhere, the Internet presents a major threat to organizations. Several prominent attack vectors rely malicious websites to exploit end users and target their organizations.
Although there are many forms of phishing, one of the more common methods is sending someone a link to a malicious website disguised as a legitimate one. When an end user clicks the link, they are taken to a site that may be used to harvest their credentials, download malware, or expose other critical information. Often, these links are made to look like real websites (i.e. microsooft[.]com) or hidden within flashy buttons prompting the user to engage with them.
Similar to the tactics used in phishing, bad actors will stand up phony domains such as netflixx[.]com and use SEO techniques to make their “site” rank highly in search results. Then, an unsuspecting person will click the link, thinking it to be the legitimate site only to fall victim to the attacker’s plot.
Instead of using search results, some attackers may stand up fake ads for products that appeal to a site visitor which take them to a malicious site. The site itself might contain or sell the product being advertised, but in the background may steal information or download malware upon visit.
By combining multiple product capabilities into a single solution, SASE is purpose-built to help organizations stop threats like these before they become major issues.
One of the biggest preventative measures organizations can gain through SASE is eb filtering. Web filtering allows IT admins and security personnel to preselect categories of websites which can be accessed or blocked by their user base.
For example, Todyl SASE’s Web Filtering capability comes prebuilt with a malicious site blocker. It updates constantly based on multiple threat intelligence sources to keep organizations secure from known threat vectors. The list is blocked by default for SASE users to prevent the effects of many phishing and/or malvertising attempts.
Further, web filtering enables more proactive control over the end user browsing experience. Admins can filter out non-work-related sites like adult content, gambling, streaming services, social media, etc. to stop other potential threats that arise from visiting these sites. It also promotes a more productive workforce by removing distractions and other activities that don’t fall within an employee’s role.
SASE also provides cloud DNS resolution and policy management through Secure DNS. DNS is the “phonebook of the internet” and controls how typed domain names resolve into IP addresses. Using Secure DNS, organizations can establish ordered behaviors that anticipate potential domain misspellings used by attackers, like microsooft[.]com. Over the Todyl Secure Global Network (SGN), any end user accessing these sites, accidentally or otherwise, will instead be routed to the correct domain.
In addition, Secure DNS also enables organizations to protect their own internal domains through conditional access. Specifically, admins can create policies that require users to operate within certain office locations, IP ranges, or geographic regions to reach these domains. This prevents attackers from reaching them from known threat locales or from standing up phony redirects to similar malicious domains.
These outcomes are only a handful of the preventative capabilities of Todyl SASE. Creating a secure distributed global network, SASE helps enable secure remote and hybrid work. You can see SASE’s capabilities in action; request a free trial of Todyl and learn everything the platform can do.
