Zero Trust URL Translation for Secure Remote Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing trend of remote work poses cybersecurity challenges as employees access company data from unsecured public hotspots and personal devices, which can compromise network security.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a zero trust network environment that receives requests from client devices to access web resources, fetches the resources, generates alternate URLs to replace external URLs with internal ones, and provides the alternate resources to maintain a secure browsing session within the zero trust network.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users are allowed complete internet access from personal devices in remote work environments, then usability and productivity are improved, but network security is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a URL translation service as an intermediary between users and external web resources. This service translates external URLs to internal URLs and translates responses back, allowing users to access external resources while maintaining zero trust security. The intermediary enables both usability (access to external resources) and security (controlled translation process) simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the network access process into distinct translation stages: external URL to internal URL translation, resource fetching through secure channels, and internal URL to external URL translation in responses. This segmentation allows granular control over each step of the access process, enabling security policies to be applied at each stage while maintaining user productivity.
2Reliability
If a zero trust environment implements strict access control to maintain security, then network security is improved, but user productivity deteriorates due to limited access
Solution Approach 1:
The URL translation service acts as an intermediary that enables secure access without blocking productivity. It translates external URLs to internal URLs for secure fetching, then translates response URLs back to external URLs for user delivery. This intermediary mechanism maintains zero trust security while allowing users to access external web resources freely.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a copy of the external web resource through internal URL translation, fetches it through secure zero trust channels, and delivers it to the user. This copying approach allows the original external resource to remain unchanged while creating a secure internal representation that can be safely accessed within the zero trust environment.
3Ease of operation
If users access web resources directly from external networks, then ease of access is improved, but exposure to malicious external resources increases
Solution Approach 1:
The URL translation service serves as an intermediary that all external resource access must pass through. It translates external URLs to internal URLs before fetching, and translates response URLs back after fetching. This intermediary process maintains ease of access for users while enabling security controls to inspect and filter all external resource interactions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary URL translation and resource fetching through secure channels before delivering content to users. By translating URLs and fetching resources through the zero trust environment first, the system preemptively secures the access process, allowing users to access resources as if directly while actually routing through security controls.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system for providing web resources through a zero trust network environment are provided. The system comprises receiving a request from a client device to access a web resource through a zero trust network environment, wherein the web resource is external to the zero trust network environment, the request including a first uniform resource locator (URL), and the resource further including a second URL; fetching the web resource based on the first URL; generating an alternate resource, the alternate resource including an alternate URL replacing the second URL; and providing the alternate resource to the client device.