The Biggest IT Threat? That Seemingly Innocuous Web Browser
ComputerWorld, Tuesday, November 26th, 2024
Enterprise CIOs today allow any user to choose pretty much any freeware browser they want - and then use it to access their most sensitive systems. Does anyone see a problem here?
For decades, enterprises have allowed their workers to use whatever free browser they wanted to access the most sensitive files possible. CIOs believed that security software in the environment - such as endpoint security apps or supposedly secure web gateways - would deliver any needed protections.
And until 2020, that view was somewhat valid. But when various pandemic-fueled changes hit the workplace, almost everything changed. But as extreme browser exposure became far more dangerous, the shift was so gradual that almost no one in IT noticed any danger. Those changes included massive numbers of new remote sites; skyrocketing shifts away from on-premises tools and apps to the cloud; and far more SaaS deployments.