Secure Web Gateway for Internet and SaaS Access
Protect Internet Access with Cloud-Delivered Web Security
Protect Users And Devices With A Secure Web Gateway
The internet is now the primary network for business applications, user activity, and data exchange. Employees access SaaS platforms, cloud services, and web applications directly from anywhere, often outside traditional network controls. A modern Secure Web Gateway must do more than block threats—it must provide real-time visibility, enforce data protection policies, and control how users interact with the internet across all locations.
Why Traditional Web Security Falls Short
Legacy secure web gateways and firewalls were designed for centralized networks, where traffic passed through a data center perimeter. That model no longer exists. Users connect directly to the internet, applications are distributed across cloud platforms, and encrypted traffic dominates.
This creates significant challenges:
Organizations lack visibility into SaaS, AI and web usage, making it difficult to identify risk. Sensitive data can leave the organization without inspection or control. Security policies are inconsistent across office, remote, and mobile users. At the same time, threats have evolved to exploit encrypted channels and cloud services.
Zscaler Internet Access
Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) is the world’s leading Secure Web Gateway (SWG), delivering cloud–native, AI–powered cyberthreat protection to the Internet and SaaS apps. Zscaler’s full proxy architecture enables TLS/SSL inspection at scale, with connections brokered between users and applications based on identity, context, and business policies. ZIA is part of the Zero Trust Exchange (ZTE), and all Internet–bound traffic is be sent through the ZTE.
Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) Sits inline between your company and the Internet, protecting your enterprise from cyberthreats, stopping intellectual property leaks, and ensuring compliance with corporate content and access policies.
ZIA monitors your network and user activity, secures roaming users and mobile devices, and manages all of this globally from a single management console. There is no hardware to buy, no appliances to manage and policy changes can be effected globally across your organization from a single console in minutes.
Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) can protect your employees from malware (including Ransomware), viruses and other Internet threats, blocking attacks in real time. Zscaler security services scan and filter every byte of your network traffic, including SSL-encrypted sessions , as it passes to and from the Internet.
Zscaler Internet Security, when combined with ZIA, enables confident, secure AI adoption with a solution that offers AI asset management, secure access to AI, and security for enterprise AI apps and infrastructure, without inhibiting innovation.
Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) provides a Secure Service Edge (SSE), which when combined with an SD–WAN product such as Aruba EdgeConnect can provide a complete SASE architecture. It allows secure local breakout for your branch network. SD–WAN makes local breakouts easy. Zscaler makes them secure. Learn more: Network Transformation
One advantage of a cloud–delivered security gateway is that it can be delivered very quickly. See Rapid Internet Protection for a discussion on how protection can be enabled very rapidly. One major airline in the United States, responding to an urgent cyber–event deployed Zscaler to the majority of its users (over 60,000 users) over one weekend, and that included planning time!
Download ZIA Datasheet
The Zero Trust Exchange (ZTE) is the core component of the Zscaler Secure Web Gateway. All traffic, including encrypted traffic can be routed through the ZTE for inspection and control
Free, Safe & Confidential Security Preview of Your Own Environment
Not sure if your current Internet secure web gateway is really secure? Conduct a Security Preview now, from within your existing network to show how effective your current controls are.
The Zscaler Security Preview runs in your
browser. It does not access any data, introduce malware or change
any settings. Click on the button below to begin the Zscaler
Security Preview
Zscaler can also help protect IoT (Internet of Things) and OT (Operational Technology) environments, and help to enable Industry 4.0 in industrial environments. Zscaler can allow for secure data exchange in IoT environments such as Smart City and power generation, and help protect legacy OT environments by providing a Zero Trust Exchange between OT and IT systems.
Secure Web Gateway FAQ
A modern Secure Web Gateway is a foundational control for managing how users interact with the internet, SaaS applications, and cloud services. As organizations move away from traditional network perimeters, solutions like Zscaler Internet Access provide the visibility, control, and protection required to secure web traffic in real time. The following FAQs address common questions around how a cloud-native SWG works and how it helps organizations reduce risk while enabling secure access from any location.
1. What is a Secure Web Gateway and why is it important today?
A Secure Web Gateway is a security control that sits between users and the internet, inspecting and governing web traffic in real time. It is important because most business activity now happens over the internet, including SaaS applications and cloud services. Without a modern SWG, organizations lack visibility into user activity, cannot effectively prevent data loss, and remain exposed to web-based threats.
2. How does Zscaler Internet Access differ from traditional secure web gateways?
Zscaler Internet Access is delivered as a cloud-native service rather than an on-premise appliance. Instead of routing traffic through a data center, it inspects traffic inline through a globally distributed platform. This allows organizations to enforce consistent security policies for all users, regardless of location, while eliminating the performance and scalability limitations of traditional gateways.
3. Does Zscaler inspect encrypted (SSL/TLS) traffic?
Zscaler performs full SSL/TLS inspection at scale, allowing organizations to identify threats and enforce policies within encrypted traffic. Since the majority of internet traffic is now encrypted, this capability is essential for detecting malware, preventing data leakage, and maintaining visibility into user activity.
4. Can Zscaler help prevent data loss over the web?
Zscaler includes integrated Data Loss Prevention capabilities that inspect outbound traffic in real time. It can detect sensitive information such as personal data, financial records, or intellectual property and apply policies to block, allow, or log the activity. This ensures that data is protected as users interact with web and SaaS applications.
5. How does Zscaler handle SaaS and shadow IT visibility?
Zscaler provides detailed visibility into all web and SaaS applications being accessed by users. It can identify unsanctioned or risky applications and allow organizations to apply policies that restrict or control their use. This helps reduce risk associated with shadow IT while enabling safe adoption of cloud services.
6. Will using Zscaler impact user performance or experience?
Zscaler is designed to improve user experience by routing traffic directly to the nearest point of presence rather than backhauling it through a central data center. This reduces latency and improves application performance, particularly for cloud and SaaS applications, while still enforcing full security inspection.
7. How does Zscaler protect against modern web threats like ransomware and phishing?
Zscaler uses a combination of real-time inspection, threat intelligence, and advanced detection techniques to identify and block malicious content before it reaches the user. By inspecting traffic inline and enforcing policy before connections are established, it reduces the attack surface and prevents threats from entering the environment.
8. Can Zscaler enforce consistent security policies for remote and mobile users?
Because Zscaler operates in the cloud, it applies the same security policies to users regardless of where they are located. Whether users are in an office, at home, or traveling, their internet traffic is routed through the Zscaler platform, ensuring consistent protection without relying on VPNs or on-premise infrastructure.
9. How does Zscaler support reporting and compliance requirements?
Zscaler provides centralized logging and reporting across all internet activity, allowing organizations to demonstrate how policies are enforced and how data is protected. Security and compliance teams can generate reports that show user activity, application usage, and policy enforcement, making it easier to meet regulatory requirements and internal governance standards.
Why Hararei?
Selecting a secure web gateway is not just a product decision — it is an architectural one.
At Hararei, we help organizations evaluate how secure web gateway capabilities fit into a broader strategy that includes SASE, Zero Trust, and cloud transformation. With extensive experience deploying Zscaler across diverse environments, we ensure that the solution is aligned to business objectives, cost and performance requirements, and regulatory needs. Our management have decades of experience managing secure, regulated environments and can assist in ensuring the technologies we represent can meet your regulatory requirements.
Contact Us Please contact Hararei for an in-depth discussion on using any of our Cloud or Cybersecurity products or services