When consumerization of IT was the next big thing, enterprises spent a lot of time and money modernizing apps and working to accommodate the way employees want to work. Many of those changes truly improved the way people work every day. BYO device users, noncorporate machines, corporate workstations, mobile devices, and third parties all needed access to company resources, and the lowest common denominator across all these new endpoints was the web browser.
It was a fantastic place to build toward. The browser is ubiquitous and free, everyone knows how to use one, and there was very little barrier to entry. There is a downside though — they are built for the consumer and not with enterprise requirements in mind. Enterprises are looking for security features like clipboard controls, fine-tuned data download and upload policies, and the ability to enforce watermarks to prevent critical data exfiltration, among a host of other features to protect their most precious resource — their intellectual property.
There is a better way to provide access to corporate apps and data that doesn’t involve VPNs or virtualization. That’s why we have spent the last two years developing Citrix Enterprise Browser.
Citrix’s Enterprise Browser Explained
Citrix Enterprise Browser is a Chromium-based enterprise browser designed to provide secure access to corporate web and SaaS apps and offer protection from data loss and cyberattacks as part of an overall zero trust strategy. The browser runs locally on Windows and Macs and is meant for use on both managed and unmanaged BYO devices. It provides the ideal endpoint to control without requiring IT to manage every endpoint device.
Features of Citrix Enterprise Browser
- Installed locally on user’s device for a true native experience
- VPN-less access to corporate web resources on a per-app basis, while restricting uncontrolled lateral network access
- Contextually apply data loss prevention (DLP) controls, including clipboard access controls, restrictions on uploads/downloads, enforcing watermarks, preventing screen capture, and printing controls
- Keystroke logger protection to prevent malware from recording keystrokes, mitigating password theft
- Web filtering with allowed, blocked, or restricted viewing for unknown URLs
Citrix Enterprise Browser can take advantage of the Adaptive Authentication service to provide granular, contextual enforcement for the above features. For example, IT admins can use contextual policies such as enabling different access based on BYOD or corporate-managed devices. Citrix Enterprise Browser can also inform the Citrix Analytics service with detailed logging for added security, insights and enforcement options.
Citrix Enterprise Browser: Only Part of the Story
Citrix Enterprise Browser is included with Citrix Secure Private Access, a full-fledged zero trust network access (ZTNA) solution. We know there are still apps in your environment that have not fully transitioned to web platforms and remain traditional client server apps. For those apps, the Secure Access Agent can provide contextual, per-app access to internal resources.
Because Citrix Enterprise Browser is part of our larger app delivery strategy, it is already installed as part of Citrix Workspace app. And Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops or Citrix DaaS are not required. That means internal web and SaaS apps can be securely delivered with no added VDA servers, infrastructure or third-party licenses. (Access to internal web apps requires a free software connector appliance.)
Citrix Enterprise Browser complements existing what Citrix DaaS customers already have. Web and SaaS apps are delivered as tiles alongside virtual apps in the same workspace. Most Citrix users already have Citrix Enterprise Browser installed as part of Citrix Workspace app, and it only needs to be enabled via Citrix Secure Private Access. Citrix admins and architects can now control all web and SaaS apps along with traditional virtual apps from one console.
On mobile devices, web and SaaS apps configured via Secure Private Access are delivered to the mobile enterprise browser embedded in Citrix Workspace app for iOS and Android. This provides secure access without device enrolment or MDM, making it ideal for BYO devices.
Additional Security Capabilities
If you need to provide users with access to resources that you do not want running on your network or that are potentially unsafe, you can use Citrix Secure Browser service. It uses the same enterprise browser technology, but Citrix hosts the browser in a secure data center and creates an air-gap firewall between your users and the potentially unsafe content.
The Citrix Secure Private Access portfolio is deeply integrated with Citrix Analytics service, as well. Detailed activity logs can be sent to Citrix Analytics for Security, allowing you to monitor user behaviors, potential data exfiltration, and impossible traveler scenarios among others. By taking these inputs, our the service can create a user risk score that can be used as another input to the contextual access engine, ensuring the proper level of access at the right time.
Learn More
Citrix Enterprise Browser provides a familiar experience for users, who can get all their browser-based work apps in one place with SSO, and the flexibility to work securely from any device. Users also benefit from having a browser for work apps and can keep personal browsing separate.
Learn more about Citrix Enterprise Browser and Secure Private Access.
