A cloud security gateway is a cloud-delivered solution that filters malware from user-initiated internet traffic to prevent it from infecting user devices and compromising an organization’s network. By sitting between users and their internet destinations, it also enforces corporate and regulatory policies. What makes a cloud security gateway differ from legacy secure web gateways is that the complete security stack is delivered as a service—all the filtering and inspection and policy enforcement happens in the cloud, so there is no need for physical appliances.
By moving security out of data centers and regional gateways to a globally distributed cloud, cloud security gateways bring services close to the user for a fast, seamless experience without traffic backhauling over slow, expensive private networks. Moreover, with a cloud security gateway, organizations can easily scale protection to all mobile users and all offices via local internet breakouts, thereby simplifying their network and security infrastructures.