Seven Use Cases for Remote Browser Isolation (RBI)

It’s important to know that not all Remote Browser Isolation (RBI) solutions address the same use cases. Some use cases a good RBI solution solves include monitoring third-party access to systems, auditing browser activity, enabling secure Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and extending zero trust to browsers.

Continue reading to learn what RBI is and explore some of its most common use cases.

What is remote browser isolation?

Remote Browser Isolation (RBI) is a technology that protects your devices and networks from cyber threats by hosting web browsing sessions in a controlled remote environment. While you browse the internet, your online activity is sent to a secure, remote server rather than staying on your device. This isolated server keeps any harmful content, such as fake ads or malware, off your device by never actually running the website code locally on the device and instead visually projecting the content. Once you interact with the web page, you will see only what the server considers safe content, so you cannot be tricked into clicking on malicious content. Overall, RBI helps you safely browse online by stopping cyber threats from reaching your device.

7 remote browser isolation use cases

Here are seven ways RBI can be used within your organization to protect your devices, networks and data from cyber threats.

1. Record and monitor third-party access to systems

Sometimes, your organization must authorize third-party access to specific systems, but that comes with potential security risks. Several risks associated with third-party access include compliance gaps, data loss, operational risks, data breaches and supply chain attacks. With these risks and cyber threats, your organization may not be directly breached, but a third party with access to your organization’s data may suffer a cyber attack, which could indirectly impact your security.

If your organization uses RBI, you can record and monitor everything third-party sources do within your systems while they have authorized access to your data. For example, you may have an outside vendor who needs to access your systems for a limited time. Instead of giving that vendor standing access to your organization’s full network, they can use RBI to access only the necessary parts of your systems through an isolated browser. This way, you can record and monitor their activity while preventing any malware from infecting your systems and limiting the vendor’s access.

2. Audit and log all browser activity

RBI allows you to audit and log all browser activity, which helps meet compliance standards and also enhances your organization’s security. With complete visibility into authorized users’ activity on an isolated browser, your organization can detect potential cyber threats and monitor how users behave online. For example, if all your employees use RBI while browsing the internet, you can log which websites they visit and what they download. By storing this information, you can review your organization’s overall online behavior and ensure that everyone is following security policies at work.

3. Secure distributed remote workforces

Allowing employees to work remotely automatically increases security risks, but with RBI, you can reduce this risk because remote employees can access the internet on an isolated browser, which protects them from cyber threats like phishing and Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attacks. Since RBI prevents any malicious content from being on employees’ actual devices, having a secure online connection protects your organization and your employees from many security risks no matter where they are located.

4. Enable secure BYOD

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is a policy adopted by many organizations that lets employees use personal devices to complete their job tasks. Although BYOD allows for more flexibility in terms of what devices employees can use, it also introduces more security risks if an employee’s personal device has been infected with malware or accessed by an unauthorized user. RBI can enable secure BYOD by creating a divide between employees’ personal devices and an organization’s network for a private network experience. Since employees can run an isolated server on any device with RBI, their personal and work-related data remain protected from malicious content and potential cyber threats.

5. Eliminates the need for broad access

Using RBI eliminates the need for your employees to have broad access to your organization’s network because access can be restricted to just the resources and data needed to complete their job. Most organizations have their employees use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to connect to private networks and secure their data. However, VPNs give broad access to organizational resources, which could jeopardize the safety of data and information if an employee clicks a malicious link or downloads malicious content. This is why VPNs alone aren’t enough to protect your organization’s data. RBI eliminates the possibility of malware infecting organizational devices without needing a VPN connection by creating a separate browsing environment. However, this doesn’t mean your organization shouldn’t use a VPN. Since RBI and VPNs have varying functions, many organizations prefer to rely on their strengths by using them both.

6. Extending zero trust to browsers

RBI can help extend zero-trust security to web browsers without exposing your organization’s devices to cyber threats. A zero-trust framework requires every user to be continuously validated through strict access controls to a network’s systems and data, focusing more on who the user is than on their characteristics. With RBI, keeping all web activity in a separate environment ensures that no malicious content reaches the user’s device.

7. More efficient testing and debugging for QA teams

Your QA teams can use RBI to test and debug your websites or apps efficiently in an isolated server without impacting the rest of the device. This way, your QA teams can simulate various environments and web browsers for your systems to run on in an isolated server. While testing and experimenting with an app, your QA team can use RBI to prevent any potential errors from affecting your main network or systems. RBI significantly reduces the time spent on testing and debugging with a secure environment to experiment in, as you can also easily reproduce an issue by studying a recording of online activity.

Remote browser isolation with Keeper

RBI is a great solution for many organizations to protect devices and employees from potential cyber threats. Keeper^® offers the best RBI solution because it enables secure access for your employees, controls web browsing, records isolated web sessions and can automatically fill in employee login credentials in a safe environment. With its zero-knowledge security framework, Keeper’s RBI gives full visibility and control over all network communications between an employee’s device and target websites.

Request a demo of Keeper Connection Manager, which includes the RBI feature, to see how you can securely access any web page in an isolated server.