Zero Trust Browser Security can help meet NIS 2 compliance

The deadline to meet NIS 2 guidelines is less than three months away, and organizations that do business in the European Union (EU) are finding it difficult to meet some of the reporting and disclosure requirements that the directive mandates – even organizations that have implemented a mature cybersecurity posture.

The directive getting the most attention from these nervous security teams is the requirement that organizations disclose a breach within 24 hours of the incident. This includes insights into how the breach occurred, the systems that were impacted and the steps the organization took to stop and mitigate the attack. Doing this within the 24 hour deadline is going to be extremely difficult for a lot of organizations. Most breaches are executed through the browser, yet browser security remains a low priority for most organizations – even organizations that employ a mature cybersecurity posture. 

It’s clear that security teams simply do not have visibility into the browser to meet these reporting requirements, and unfortunately, the consequences of not meeting these deadlines can be quite prohibitive.

Threat investigation is getting more complex

Officially called the Network and Information Security Directive, NIS 2 builds on the privacy regulatory framework outlined in General Protection Data Regulation (GDPR). While GDPR focuses on privacy, NIS 2 addresses security infrastructure itself, ensuring that member organizations have the tools and capabilities in place to detect, stop and mitigate breaches. Far from merely providing organizations with a list of required cybersecurity components, the directive is intended to heighten cybersecurity resilience, streamline reporting and disclosures and mandate uniform regulations and penalties across member states.

The problem is that threat surfaces have been rapidly expanding over the past 10 years through digital transformation, cloud migrations, hybrid work models and the rise of Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms. Data has moved out of the hardened data center and into unmanaged personal devices out on the edge of the network and in third-party web applications. Limited visibility and control makes threat investigation extremely hard across this expanding threat surface. Security teams have to rely on event logs and reports from third-party infrastructures to piece together the attack chain and figure out how attackers have penetrated their networks. This highly manual, human-led process makes it nearly impossible to uncover relevant insights within the 24 hour deadline.

Organizations that need to meet the reporting and disclosure requirements in NIS 2 will need to figure out a way to accelerate this process in hopes of meeting the mandates set to take effect in October.

The importance of Zero Trust Browser Security 

It’s no secret that work today is conducted primarily in the browser, allowing distributed users and business tools to access sensitive data from outside the managed network. Security teams have limited visibility into these entities, much less control over their security posture. Malicious actors know this, of course, and are increasingly targeting web browsers as their attack vector of choice. According to the latest Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, 90 percent of attacks now occur through the browser.

Implementing zero trust principles across browser security is a simple and effective way to gain better visibility and control into browser activity. Zero trust allows inherent risks associated with browser-based activities to be acknowledged and addressed through continuous monitoring and verification of all data flows, regardless of their source or destination. Unfortunately, traditional web security mechanisms – such as URL filtering and antivirus scanning – are ill-equipped for zero trust, lacking the contextual awareness necessary to distinguish between benign and malicious content. 

Instead, a zero trust approach to browser security emphasizes the need for real-time analysis of web content, coupled with robust isolation techniques to contain potential threats before they can reach endpoints. Most importantly for organizations needing to meet NIS 2 reporting and disclosure requirements, zero trust provides the framework to achieve greater visibility and control over browser behavior, making threat investigation much easier, accurate and quicker.

Zero Trust Browser Security is critical for NIS 2 compliance

An important NIS 2 deadline is coming down the pike in October, and organizations need to make sure they are able to report a breach within 24 hours. Since most breaches occur though the browser, a zero trust browser security strategy can help threat investigation throughout the attack chain. Zero trust browser security provides visibility and control into browser behavior, improves the overall security posture across browser types and helps integrate browser security with the rest of the security stack. Armed with the visibility and control, security teams will be able to conduct a proper investigation into breaches and meet the 24-hour disclosure deadline mandated in NIS 2.

Download the full Coalfire zero trust paper here to understand how Menlo Security’s solutions can help your organization align with zero trust principles and achieve NIS 2 compliance.

Don't let browser attacks compromise your endpoints. The Menlo Secure Cloud Browser prevents malicious content from ever reaching your devices. Learn more here.