Today’s workspace is in the browser, with over 85% of a worker's day being spent in it. It is also vulnerable, with 95% of organizations reporting a security incident originating in the browser. To effectively secure the modern workspace, organizations need a secure enterprise browser.
Everyday Web Browsers Create Huge Risk
Everyday web browsers are not fit for securing the modern workspace. They have many capability gaps, including:
- Lack of Posture Controls: There are no consistent checks to verify that the security posture of the device and the browser, including installed extensions, is in good posture. This problem is aggravated by agentic AI capabilities in the browser.
- Weak Protection Against Attacks: Browsers are targeted by endpoint malware, malicious websites that exploit browser vulnerabilities, and phishing attacks delivered through the browser.
- No Control Over “Data In Use”: There is no visibility and control into the apps employees are using and “data in use.”
- No Guardrails On AI and Agentic Tools: Guardrails cannot be implemented on new, emerging AI applications, creating major security and data security gaps. For example, data is leaking in AI interactions through complex multiturn interactions instead of one-time data transfer.
- No Visibility or Controls Over User Actions: There is no visibility or control over user actions, which can lead to compliance issues.
These gaps transform the most-used tool in your company into its greatest liability. To truly secure the modern workspace, you need a browser that was built from the ground up for the enterprise.
Yet, not all enterprise browsers are created equal. To ensure your organization is actually protected, here are the five non-negotiable features your secure enterprise browser must have.
The Five Capabilities Your Secure Enterprise Browser Must Have
1. Browser and Endpoint Security Posture
With the browser becoming the main workspace, posture must be treated in two dimensions: the device the browser is running on and the posture of the browser environment.
A secure enterprise browser must be a continuous gatekeeper on any device and go beyond just a simple one-time login check. It must perform device posture checks before granting access. And these device posture checks should happen continuously, even after access is granted to ensure compliance with corporate policies and mitigate risk. These checks include verifying proper screen lock status, up-to-date OS versions and the installation of proper corporate security software, such as EPP or EDR tools.
In addition to security posture checks, a secure enterprise browser needs to be isolated from the endpoint so users can work safely on any device, including unmanaged devices. This isolation is critical for protecting browser memory and assets from keyloggers and infostealers that may be residing on the local device.
Finally, your secure enterprise browser must be able to manage browser extension usage and access to its internal APIs. Attackers are using browser plugins (extensions) to steal data and fool users. With agentic AI, these extensions can act on behalf of the user by using their identity and access tokens. This creates a new attack vector and new avenues for attackers' favorite asset: identities.
Your enterprise browser must be able to monitor and block extensions based on permissions and their risk score to keep the runtime environment secure.
2. Advanced Web and Malware Protection
Today’s threats are more advanced than ever. Malware and phishing attacks AI, exponentially increasing the amount of new and unknown malicious URLs and zero-day threats. This is paired with sophisticated delivery methods that are used to bypass traditional network-level security tools, like legacy SWG and CASB, and directly attack the browser instead. A primary example is the runtime reassembly attack, where malicious code is broken into benign-looking fragments that appear harmless during transit but are stitched together and executed only once they reach the browser's execution layer.
Your secure enterprise browser needs to have AI-powered capabilities that are able to detect and stop these new and unknown threats. Prisma Browser, for example, leverages Precision AI and Palo Alto Networks security engines, which analyze 3.8 billion new URLs everyday, to provide real-time protection against unique malicious URLs and SaaS-hosted. It also leverages the industry’s largest malware prevention engine, which analyzes 77 million files daily and blocks 99% of new and unknown malware variants. The browser is as secure as the engine used to secure it.
To stop sophisticated attacks techniques that evade traditional scans, your secure enterprise browser is able to scan at the point of execution. Prisma Browser stops these sophisticated delivery methods through Live Page Scanning, which performs real-time analysis as the page renders. This allows it to identify and block runtime reassembly attacks and other cloaking techniques, such as those hidden behind CAPTCHAs, before they can compromise the workspace.
3. Enterprise Data Loss Prevention
To truly secure the modern workspace, data protection must move past just network-level inspection. It should happen directly where the data is being used. The browser, being the modern workspace, provides the context, visibility and granularity that is needed for effective data protection.
A non-negotiable requirement for any secure enterprise browser is integrated data loss prevention with an engine that detects advanced data leakage attempts. Integrated Enterprise DLP combined with information about the full context of the user action that only the browser can deliver is a winning combination that will enable your users to stay fully productive while ensuring that all of their actions are bound by corporate data security guardrails.
PrismaⓇ BrowserTM features built-in Enterprise DLP, which utilizes advanced machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) to ensure 10x fewer false positives. A critical challenge of DLP is the configuration and classification of enterprise data. Prisma Browser allows uploading enterprise-specific data and using Exact Data Matching to prevent any leakage of that data to GenAI or other web applications. This enables employees to stay fully productive while staying within corporate data security policy.
4. Securing Generative AI Tools
Generative AI tools are accelerating employee productivity. New GenAI tools are entering the market at a rapid pace, with over 12,000 AI applications expected to be in use by 2030. But the use of new, emerging GenAI tools is introducing major risk. This explosion of new GenAI apps means the rise of Shadow AI use, leading to major security blind spots and lack of control. 65% of organizations currently have limited to no control over what data is shared in AI tools. Furthermore, these blind spots lead to compliance issues.
Your secure enterprise browser must deliver visibility, control and event history to comprehensively enable your organization to safely adopt GenAI tools. Prisma Browser, for example, allows you to see all GenAI applications being used throughout the organization including new and emerging ones. It also enables you to control access to these AI tools and control the data being uploaded or sent to these tools.
For compliance, Prisma Browser enables the collection of prompts being entered into GenAI tools and the recording of user sessions for auditing and forensics, helping you support the rapidly expanding compliance requirements surrounding AI use.
With enhanced visibility and control, your organization can safely enable GenAI - but your non-negotiable is the ability to identify shadow GenAI applications, comprehensive DLP classification, evidence storage for the interactions with GenAI and advanced AI-specific engines to detect emerging attacks such as prompt injection.
5. Last-Mile Visibility & Control for Compliance
For comprehensive security and compliance, your secure enterprise browser must provide complete visibility and deliver granular control at the last-mile. Because the browser is the primary workspace, it can deliver a level of granular visibility and control that traditional network-level tools simply cannot reach.
This unique vantage point enables secure enterprise browsers to monitor all applications being used—including sanctioned and unsanctioned "Shadow IT"—and collect rich audit trails of every user action.
On top of granular visibility and rich audit trails, secure enterprise browsers enable granular controls at the last-mile on user actions. For example, Prisma Browser can implement last-mile granular controls, including the blocking of copying and pasting, printing, screenshotting, screen sharing and more. And this can be implemented accurately since the browser is able to see the full context of the user action and detect the sensitive data within their action.
Fully Secure The Modern Workspace With Prisma Browser
Prisma Browser is purpose-built to transform the browser from a security gap into a secure workspace. It is built with the 5 non-negotiables—from continuous posture checks to granular last-mile controls— and more to enable secure work on any device for any user while delivering a great user experience.
Schedule a demo today to see how Prisma Browser secures the workspace.