8 Best Browser Security Solutions for Enterprises 2024 [TOP RANKINGS]

Cloudification and digital transformation have disrupted traditional network security products. Thanks to the cloud and the web, users can communicate globally, access SaaS applications all over the world, and access knowledge resources that can help them with their core business efforts. A wide range of new capabilities is now available to end users.

As a result, the browser has become the nerve center of the modern enterprise. The browser today is the intersection point between on-premises and cloud environments.

It provides users with access to everything on the web – from managed external SaaS applications to unsanctioned apps and websites, as well as to internal resources – like enterprise applications.

But browsing has also opened up organizational systems and resources to new risks. The browser is a source of data security incidents, such as data leakage to shadow SaaS, unmanaged devices, or browser risks like unintentional human errors.

Browser Security Solutions – A Complete Guide

In addition, web-borne threats, like malware injections, phishing attempts, or malicious exploits, are key sources of enterprise breaches. Website sessions have become essential for the business, but at the same time, they are a security blind spot and risk.

This is where browser security comes into play. A browser security platform protects users and data from risks and threats like data leakage, data exfiltration, malware, ransomware, phishing, accidental data exposure, and other types of malicious attacks and breaches.

Browser Security for Enterprises: How Does it Work

Enterprises today often attempt to protect website traffic through solutions like forwarding proxies and CASB solutions. But these platforms provide partial protection instead of end-to-end security at a granular level.

A browser security platform will secure traffic straight from the browser endpoint, enabling inspection, monitoring, and governance.

Functionalities

The browser security solution provides the following three capabilities:

• Secure Access Enforcement: Actively preventing risky user activity in a browser that can expose apps, devices, and data to compromise or data loss. We often do this through policy enforcement.
• Risk Detection: Analysis of all user activity and web sessions while flagging anomalies that can indicate risk in the browser session
• Visibility and Monitoring: High-resolution monitoring of all browsing activity across all web destinations, sessions, and data exchange.

Benefits

• Make the browser a protected and manageable workspace for security professionals.
• Protecting enterprise legacy applications, data, and devices from web-borne threats, browsing risks, and insider threats.
• Provide visibility into user actions when browsing.
• Ensuring a good user experience (some solutions).
• Enforcing zero trust in the browser.
• Securing managed and unmanaged devices, including from third parties.

Which Type of Browser Security Solution Should You Choose

There are three main types of web browsing solutions:

1. Browser-Agnostic platforms
2. Enterprise Browsers
3. Local Browser Isolation

Let us see what are the differences between each type.

#1) Browser-Agnostic Platforms

Browser-Agnostic Platform is a lightweight agent that is deployed to commercial browsers already in use by employees. Employees keep using the browsers they are used to, while an added extension ensures the security of their browsing activities.

Pros:

• Doesn’t impact performance
• Stellar user experience
• Frictionless deployment
• More user privacy
• Ability to enjoy commercial browsers’ built-in security capabilities
• Off-the-shelf availability

Cons:

• Less on-device browser isolation, device visibility, and on-device file processing (we can complement this with EPP/EDR).

#2) Enterprise Browsers

An Enterprise browser is an organizational browser that is intended to be used by employees for their work-related browsing activities. Unlike commercial browsers, the custom browser is not generally available and is completely controlled and managed by the enterprise.

Pros:

• More ability to execute actions on the device.
• More visibility into the hosting device.

Cons:

• Enforce users to move from their existing browsers to a new one.
• Limited capabilities compared to consumer browsers.
• Creates organizational dependency.
• Often more vulnerable than commercial browsers.
• Longer deployment processes.
• Requires longer user onboarding.

Further Reading => TOP Enterprise Browser Solutions of the Year

#3) Local Browser Isolation

Tools that isolate browsing processes in virtual environments or manipulate the browser’s performance in real-time to contain related attacks and prevent exploits, remote code execution, and downloaded malware from interacting with the actual OS and file system of the targeted device.

Pros:

• High robustness against browser exploits.

Cons:

• Poor user experience.
• Reduced browsing security capabilities.

List of the Best Browser Security Solution Providers

Here is a list of some impressive Browser Solutions for enterprises:

1. LayerX Security (Recommended)
2. ManageEngine Browser Security Plus
3. Island
4. Talon
5. SlashNext
6. Seraphic Security
7. Grip Security
8. Perception Point
9. Checkpoint Harmony Endpoint

Comparison of Top Secure Browsing Solutions

Detailed reviews:

#1) LayerX Security (Recommended)

Best for organizations looking for an end-to-end browser security platform for any browser without impacting productivity, user privacy, or user experience.

Solution Type: Browser-agnostic security platform.

LayerX is a browser-agnostic security platform that secures browsing activity in real-time from any browser while assuring near-zero user experience impact.

LayerX analyzes every web session with proprietary AI capabilities, identifies anomalies that indicate risks to users and data, and enforces secure access and browsing activity in real-time. The enterprise workforce can access any web resource while they are protected from a wide range of web-borne risks.

LayerX provides high-resolution monitoring and risk analysis so security teams can gain granular visibility into each event without negatively impacting the user experience, business agility, or user privacy. This helps enterprises drive a cloud-first strategy.

Features:

• Creating, enforcing, and governing usage policies for different SaaS applications based on role, location, context, or security risks.
• On-demand isolation of suspicious web pages and files to block malware or browser exploits.
• AI-based dynamic web page scanning for detecting malicious content.
• Visibility into each activity users performs at any web destination: websites, sanctioned and non-sanctioned SaaS applications.
• Prevent account takeovers by governing access and monitoring potential credential theft.
• Enhancing the security of emails and endpoints.
• Authentication and authorization enhancement.
• Data interaction restrictions.
• Managed and unmanaged device support.

Further Reading => List of the TOP LLM Security Solutions

Verdict: LayerX is a comprehensive browser security platform for any browser. It enables security teams to turn the browser into one a key pillar in their security architecture with real-time monitoring and governance over users’ activities on the web to any commercial browser, all while maintaining productivity, privacy, and an optimal user experience.

#2) ManageEngine Browser Security Plus

Best for Detect and Manage Various Online Security Threats.

ManageEngine’s Browser Security Plus is enterprise-grade software that’ll protect your systems against a slew of threats. These threats include viruses, ransomware, phishing attacks, Trojans, and watering hole attacks.

The software can secure and manage multiple browsers across the network. You gain complete visibility into your browser usage trends. You get all the tools you need to enforce security configurations to different browsers. Access to browser-based applications and components can be adequately regulated using this software.

Features:

• Detect and manage browser vulnerabilities
• Enforce security configurations
• Gain 360-degree visibility into browser add-ons and usage trends
• Control browser plugins, sites, and extensions

Verdict: ManageEngines’s Browser Security Plus is a great software that IT administrators can use to protect their organization’s sensitive data against almost all kinds of cyber-security attacks. You get all the tools you need to secure and manage multiple types of browsers from a single console.

#3) Island

Best for organizations interested in adopting a custom browser approach.

Solution Type: Enterprise browser

Island is an enterprise browser that enables enterprises to fully control browser behavior and gain visibility into its activities. Island is Chromium-based and supports customization of the browser’s capabilities and its look and feel.

Features:

• Creating usage policies – for internal users and third parties.
• Monitoring user activity incidents.
• Browser customization – look and feel, workflow and code.
• Support for managed and unmanaged devices.
• Governing privileged user accounts.
• Enable integrating anti-malware and isolation technology into the pre-encryption level of the browser.
• Explorer compatibility.

Verdict: Within the “Enterprise browser” sub-category, Island leads the way and has great capabilities, especially for large Enterprises. Island’s mature solution allows enterprises to gain full browser control at the cost of vendor dependency.

Website: Island

#4) Talon

Best for organizations interested in adopting an Enterprise browser approach for unmanaged devices.

Solution Type: Enterprise browser

Talon is also a Chromium-based enterprise browser. Talon isolates website traffic locally at the endpoint and integrates with Identity Providers to streamline user onboarding and policy enforcement.

Features:

• Data loss prevention, including file encryption, prevents sensitive files from being shared externally or stored on endpoints and has activity restrictions.
• URL filtering and enhanced safe browsing functions.
• Scanning engine to prevent malicious files from being used.
• Zero trust verification.
• Third-party browsing monitoring.
• Device hygiene checks.

Verdict: Talon positions itself as a tool to maintain security for unmanaged devices, using a custom browser.

Website: Talon

#5) SlashNext

Best for protection from zero-hour phishing sites.

Solution Type: Browser-Agnostic security platform.

SlashNext’s solution protects organizations against spear-phishing and human hacking, detecting zero-hour phishing threats by performing dynamic run-time analysis on billions of URLs a day through virtual browsers and machine learning.

Features:

• Multi-Vector Protection.
• Phishing across all channels.
• Built to handle Encryption challenges.
• Available in all major browsers.
• Enterprise user experience.
• SlashNext Endpoint Management System.
• Multiple Deployment options.

Verdict: A cloud-powered browser protection solution for all browsers, focused on protecting users from zero-hours phishing sites.

Website: SlashNext

#6) Seraphic Security

Best for protecting the legacy and unpatched browsers against browser exploits.

Solution Type: Local Browser isolation.

Seraphic is a lightweight browser agent that operates in browsers to provide visibility into all browser events and code executions to protect against exploits, social engineering attacks, web application vulnerabilities, and other web-based attacks. Seraphic Security’s policy enforcement capabilities drive its security and governance capabilities.

Features:

• Exploitation prevention engine through an abstraction layer between JavaScript code and JavaScript engine.
• Malicious code behavior detection engine.
• Website page analysis to identify anomalies and suspicious behavior.
• Data loss prevention through file scanning, limiting user actions, and watermarking.
• Audit logs.
• Dynamic analysis and scoring.
• Support for legacy browsers.

Verdict: Seraphic is very focused on preventing browser exploits, a very rare type of attack, but lacks granular management and analysis capabilities that are critical for organizations to detect browsing risks.

Website: Seraphic Security

Further Reading => Best BYOD Security Solutions to Look for

#7) Grip Security

Best for SaaS Security.

Solution Type: Browser-Agnostic platform

A security solution for discovering SaaS risks like shadow SaaS, dangling access, zombie accounts, cloud app use, misuse, and abuse. Grip Security prioritizes risks and enables implementation policies to prevent malicious incidents.

Recommended Reading => Best Remote Browser Isolation Service Providers

Features:

• Strong focus on corporate identities and accounts.
• SaaS risk detection and threat analysis.
• Data retention.
• 10 years of historical detection.
• Risk prioritization.
• Ability to apply customizable security and data governance policies.
• Authentication hardening.
• User activity and event visibility: user interaction, application volume, data usage metrics, and data mapping without violating employee privacy.
• Version and application control.

Verdict: A great solution for a very specific use case: visibility and secure access to SaaS apps. It does not provide the full spectrum of capabilities and security solutions as some of the other browser security platforms.

Website: Grip Security

#8) Perception Point Web Security

Best for isolating browsers from exploits and malware

Solution Type: Local browser isolation

Perception Point offers a solution that locally isolates the browser, detects threats, and blocks access to phishing websites and malicious file downloads. The solution also protects enterprise web apps from third parties and unmanaged devices.

Features:

• Browser isolation
• Enterprise Web App Protections
• Phishing prevention
• Access blocking to web-based threats, including zero-day vulnerabilities
• Cloud-based solution

Verdict: Perception point solutions are based on the acquisition of Hysolate, a web-isolation solution integrated with Perception Point’s phishing detection capabilities. Their approach of web isolation hasn’t been adopted in the market due to the impact on user experience.

Website: Perception Point Web Security

#9) Checkpoint Harmony Endpoint

Best for existing Checkpoint EDR customers.

Solution Type: Browser Agnostic platform

An endpoint solution that protects from ransomware, phishing, or drive-by malware through autonomous detection and response.

Features:

• Detection and remediation automation.
• Behavioral analysis based on machine learning algorithms.
• Automated forensic data analysis.
• Full attack containment and remediation.

Verdict: A legacy solution meant to complement the Checkpoint EDR solution for their existing customers.

Website: Checkpoint Harmony Endpoint

Conclusion

A browser security solution helps enterprises to secure the organization from web-borne threats and browsing risks. By using such a solution, your users can enjoy the business advancements that web browsing enables while preventing malicious risks like data leakage, data exfiltration, malware, ransomware, and phishing, among others.

In this article, we’ve reviewed 8 browser security solutions.

They are divided into three types:

• Browser-Agnostic Platforms: LayerX, Slashnext, Grip Security, Checkpoint Harmony Endpoint.
• Custom Browsers: Island, Talon
• Local Browser Isolation: Seraphic Security, Perception Point.

When choosing a browser security solution, there are five main criteria we recommend evaluating:

1. Relevant Security Scope: Ensuring the solution can identify and protect from all relevant modern web-based threats and browsing risks. Some solutions protect from yesterday’s threats, not tomorrow’s.
2. High Employee Productivity: Implementing a solution that supports business progress by allowing employees to use their browsers and browse the internet in a simple and frictionless manner, just like they did before implementing the platform.
3. Zero User Experience Impact: Choosing a solution that works with employees, not against them. This means letting employees keep on using the solutions they are used to or solutions that are easy to use, ensuring low latency connectivity when browsing and deploying almost transparently.
4. User Privacy Protection: Safeguarding employee privacy by ensuring no PII or sensitive information can be breached or leaked. Ideally, sensitive information will not leave the user’s device.
5. Simple Deployment: Find a solution that can be deployed simply. Security teams often find themselves evangelizing for the use of security solutions or dealing with Shadow IT. A solution that is easily deployed eliminates such friction and resistance.