By now, most companies have gotten the message that their data—as well as the sensitive data belonging to customers and partners—needs reliable protection from unauthorized access. The ever growing regulatory environment is making it more and more painful for any company who does not take their data security seriously.
The challenges of data security
The difference between the desire to keep data secure and actually getting it done, however, has proven to be challenging, especially considering the extraordinary amount of data that is being shared among companies and their customers, health care providers, financial institutions and more as part of daily business activities.
Where reverse proxy gateway security comes in
A common approach for sharing information with partners is to deploy an FTP or SFTP server in the "public" area of the company's network called the DMZ (demilitarized zone) where authorized users can drop off or retrieve files. Those files will often remain in the DMZ until an internal program or user copies them into the private network for processing.
Industry regulators and compliance auditors are becoming increasingly alarmed at this practice of staging files in the DMZ, because even if those files are encrypted, they are more susceptible to theft by savvy hackers. Worse yet, if the company decides to move those file servers into the private network, they may unintentionally be allowing unwanted access through open inbound ports.
Related reading: How Does the DMZ Impact Security?
A solution that's gaining in popularity is the reverse proxy DMZ secure gateway, which is used as a secure bridge between your trading partners and your file servers. A DMZ secure gateway allows you to move file servers and other public services out of the DMZ and into the private network without having to open inbound ports. Because it serves both as a reverse proxy for handling inbound traffic and a forward proxy for any outbound file transfer requests originating from inside your network, DMZ secure gateways keep the auditors happy and your data safe in the private network.
How does a DMZ secure gateway work, and what advantages does it bring to your network security?
For more information about DMZ secure gateways and how you can use them in your organization, download our whitepaper: DMZ Secure Gateways: Secret Weapons for Data Security.
