Browser Isolation Explained
Browser isolation protects users from untrusted, potentially malicious websites and apps by confining browsing activity to a secured environment that is separated from user devices and organizational networks. Some call this 'Sandboxing'.
Visiting websites and using web applications involves a web browser loading content and code from remote, potentially untrusted sources (e.g. web servers located around the world), then executing that code on a user's device. From a security perspective, this makes browsing the web a fairly dangerous activity. Many cybersecurity attacks utilize browser-based vulnerabilities in their attacks. Browser isolation then loads these websites but blocks scripts and other components of the website from running, which insulates them and the networks they connect to from these attacks.
Learn more about browser isolation on the Cloudflare website.
How does this affect SOVA?
The SOVA website runs in a web browser and there are many interactive components that can be impacted if the network being used to connect to SOVA utilizes a form of browser isolation. As an example, the login page in SOVA has input boxes where you enter your username and password. If you were to load the SOVA login page via a link in an email, and you are using a computer at work, the SOVA login URL gets redirected and the URL is modified automatically and without the user being aware. The only hint will be that the URL at the top of the browser window will be different from the URL given to you by your SOVA onboarding technician for accessing the system. Below is an example screenshot from URL Isolation, a system employed at some of our clients to protect their network. As you can see, the login screen for SOVA appears to load fine, but the blue bar at the top of the browser indicates that the login screen has been redirected through their system. You will see your actual SOVA login URL in the blue bar, but the page that loads shows urlisolation.com/browser... followed by a long string of characters. So what happens if I try to login using the screen below? You will be unable to click into the username and password to enter your information, so you won't be able to login.
Steps to bypass URL Isolation:
Fortunately the fix is easy after you've done it once. View the screenshot below. In the blue bar at the top of your browser window, click the icon that looks like a box with an arrow in it. This will allow you to exit out of URL isolation for this particular webpage. After clicking the icon you will get a popup message shown in the screenshot below. In that popup, click the EXIT button. After you do that, your web browser will refresh automatically and the login page will load as normal. Easy, eh?
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