Q&A Chat with Eyal Webber-Zvik on Cato RBI 

Today Cato Networks announced the addition of the Cato RBI to our Cato SASE Cloud platform. It is an exciting day for us and for our customers. Why? Because Cato’s cloud-native, security stack just got better, and without any added complexity.  

I sat down with Eyal Webber-Zvik, Vice President of Product Marketing and Strategic Alliances at Cato Networks, and asked him to provide his perspective on what is Cato RBI and what this means for Cato’s customers. 

Why should enterprises care about RBI? 

Enterprises need to care because with new websites popping up every day, they face a dilemma between the security risk of allowing employees to access uncategorized sites and the productivity and frustration impact of preventing this. With Cato RBI now integrated into our Cato SASE Cloud platform, we are giving enterprise IT teams the best of both worlds: productivity and security.   

What is Cato RBI and why do enterprises need it? 

Cato RBI is a security function that protects against malicious websites by running browser activity remotely from the user’s device, separating it from the web content. Cato RBI sends a safe version of the page to the device so that malicious code cannot reach it, without affecting the user experience. 

Enterprises need Cato RBI to protect employees from malicious websites that are not yet blacklisted as such. When employees do reach unknown and malicious sites, Cato RBI protects the business by preventing code from running in their browsers. Cato RBI protects from human error while also saving users from the frustration of being blocked from unknown websites. 

How does Cato RBI work? 

An isolated browser session is set up, remote from the user’s device, which connects to the website and loads the content. Safe-rendered content is then streamed to the users’ browsers. Malicious code does not run on the user’s device and user interaction can be limited, for example, to prevent downloads.  

Some solutions require that every browsing session uses RBI, but it is better invoked, when necessary, for example by a policy that is triggered when a user tries to visit an uncategorized website.  

Cato RBI gives IT administrators a new option for uncategorized websites. Alongside “Block” and “Prompt,” they can now choose “Isolate.” Configuration of Cato RBI can be done in less than one minute by a customer’s IT administrator. 

What if an enterprise already uses SWG, CASB, Firewall, IPS and/or anti-malware? Why do they need Cato RBI? 

These solutions protect against a wide range of threats, but Cato RBI adds another important layer of protection specifically against web- and browser-based threats, such as phishing, cookie stealing, and drive-by downloads. Since Cato RBI prevents code from reaching devices, it will help protect a business against: 

• New attacks that are not documented. 
• New malicious sites that are not categorized. 
• User error, such as clicking on the link in a phishing email. 

Cato RBI gives enterprises more peace of mind. It may allow organizations to operate a more relaxed policy on access to unknown websites, which is less intrusive and frustrating for users, who in turn will raise fewer tickets with their IT team. 

What types of cyber threats does Cato RBI protect against? 

Cato RBI provides protection against a wide range of browser-based attacks such as unintended downloads of malware and ransomware, malicious ads, cross-site scripting or XSS, browser vulnerabilities, malicious and exploited plug-ins, and phishing attacks. 

What are the benefits of Cato RBI for enterprises and users? 

There are five immediate benefits when using Cato RBI. They are: 

1. To make web access safer by isolating malicious content from user devices. 

2. To prevent your data from being stolen by making it more difficult for attackers to compromise user devices. 

3. To protect against phishing email, ransomware, and malware attacks, by neutralizing the content in the target websites. 

4. To defend against zero-day threats by isolating users from malicious websites that are new and not yet categorized. 

5. To make users more productive by allowing them to visit websites even though they are not yet known to be safe. 

Does Cato collaborate with other companies to offer Cato RBI? 

Yes. We partner with Authentic8, a world leader in the field of RBI. Authentic8 is chosen by hundreds of government agencies and commercial enterprises and offers products that meet the needs of the most regulated organizations in the world. Authentic8’s RBI engine is cloud-native and globally available, and the integration into our Cato SASE Cloud is seamless and completely transparent. 

Follow the links to learn more about Cato RBI, and about our SASE solution.