Netskope Unveils Web Security Offering With Unified Architecture, Cloud Functionality

Netskope has introduced a web security tool that makes it possible for organizations to manage and protect SaaS, IaaS and web from a single platform.

The Los Altos, Calif.-based cloud security vendor said most legacy web security tools on the market today are application focused and were built before the cloud was prevalent, said Amol Kabe, VP of product management. As a result, they aren't focused on solving the challenges cloud brings to the table such as detecting instances of AWS in the enterprise or addressing data stored in AWS and Salesforce.

Unlike the existing heavy, appliance-focused web security tools, Kabe said Netskope's web security offering is lightweight, cloud compatible, and can decrypt at scale without sweating. Netskope's ability to handle both cloud and web security means that enterprises can make granular decisions in a single, cohesive policy framework without having to grapple with multiple interfaces, according to Kabe.

[Related: Netskope Lands $100M In Series E Funding, Plans More Channel Investment]

"Enterprises need the flexibility to add additional protection without having to go out and deploy new platforms," Kabe said. "You don't meet a customer that doesn't see the need for both cloud and web security today."

Netskope for Web starts at $60 per user, Kabe said, with volume discounts available and advanced threat protection or other add-ons available at an additional cost. The company began testing its web security offering in beta mode in August, according to Kabe, and has spent the past six months making sure operations and a worldwide distribution footprint are in place to handle an onslaught of customers.

Demand has been fantastic, Kabe said, with customers very excited by the 'page events' unified view that coalesces multiple HTTP transactions onto a single screen. This really excites customers by helping them pinpoint issues they need to investigate further, according to Kabe.

Until now, Kabe said Netskope handled only the cloud traffic and had enterprises fulfill their web security needs through a secure web gateway (SWG). However, as cloud services rose from accounting for just 5 percent of network traffic to as much as 40 percent of network traffic in some enterprises, a different approach was needed.

In recent years, Netskope has noticed threats that straddle different channels such as an email with a link to a website or a file that downloads to a cloud computing platform, according to Gautam Kanaparthi, director of product management. Organizations that have multiple products in place struggle to get a complete view of what critical users are doing in the company, Kanaparthi said.

"When you have multiple products, it is hard to understand the scope of an attack and take remediation steps from one platform," Kanaparthi said.

Kabe expects some of the demand for Netskope for Web to come from organizations that have never before deployed a proxy and are now, for the first time, looking into cloud access protection and web access protection thanks to the rising popularity of the cloud. The remainder of the demand will come from customers with legacy web security tools that don't cut it in today's world, according to Kabe.

Unlike other next-generation players moving into the web security space, Kabe said Netskope doesn't need to stitch things together between on-premise and the cloud. The company can provide both in-line and API protection across SaaS, IaaS, and web, according to Kabe, and has built its services into a single policy framework that's both cloud native and cloud scaled.

"This market is so hot that I expect everyone and their brother to move into it," Kabe said.

Although organizations have been moving services into the cloud for a while now, the web security landscape has remained stagnant with a continued focus on inspection and filtering, according to Lee Waskevich, vice president of security for Herndon, Va.-based ePlus, No. 35 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500.

Netskope for Web, though, can provide support around mobile and cloud services as well as insight into the content of an application, Waskevich said. Specifically, Waskevich said the offering could detect and prevent malicious content from entering into an application, as well as provide more granular visibility into data sets and necessary controls.

Some basic web security capabilities have been available to ePlus customers through a next-generation firewall, Waskevich said, while other organizations have relied on on-premise, proxy solutions that have been challenged by an increasingly mobile workforce. Netskope for Web will be a good fit for companies that are more cloud-leaning and envision additional applications moving to the cloud, Waskevich said.

"This is a very exciting announcement to hear," Waskevich said.