Secure web gateways

A network-based security tool that filters web traffic based on URL categorization, domain reputation, and content inspection. SWGs enforce acceptable use policies, block known-malicious URLs, and can perform TLS inspection.

SWGs were designed for malware-delivery URLs. Modern attacks operate through user interaction on rapidly rotating infrastructure that SWGs haven't categorized.

SWGs provide value for acceptable use policy enforcement and known-malware URL blocking. For phishing detection and browser-based threat defense, SWGs are increasingly insufficient because they rely on URL reputation against attacks that rotate faster than reputation databases update.

Push complements SWGs by providing behavioral threat detection. SWGs for acceptable use, Push for threat detection.

SWGs rely on URL categorization and domain reputation — indicators that don't exist for newly created infrastructure. Phishing domains rotate in under two days. Phishing kits also use bot protection to serve benign content to automated scanners.

Push detects phishing at the rendered-page level, targeting kit behavior rather than domain reputation. See the detection difference.

For threat detection — yes. For acceptable use policy enforcement — Push provides domain categorization across 89 categories with browser-level blocking, which overlaps significantly with SWG URL filtering.

If you primarily use your SWG for threat detection, Push is a superior replacement. If you rely on TLS inspection or network-level DLP, Push complements but doesn't fully replace that functionality.

SWGs operate at the network/proxy layer, inspecting traffic between user and internet. Push operates inside the browser session, seeing rendered pages, credential entry, clipboard actions, and session behavior.

SWGs are better at network-level traffic filtering and TLS inspection. Push is better at behavioral phishing detection, credential hygiene, session security, and detecting attacks on trusted infrastructure. See the comparison.

Newly registered domains (not yet categorized), hosting phishing on trusted platforms (microsoft.com, chatgpt.com), bot protection (benign content to scanners), infrastructure rotation, and delivery through channels SWGs don't monitor (SMS, social media, search ads).

Push catches these evasion techniques because it detects page behavior rather than domain reputation. See phishing evasion techniques.

Certificate pinning failures (breaking apps that enforce specific certificates), performance degradation, privacy concerns, and compatibility issues. Many organizations exempt critical applications, creating coverage gaps.

Push provides browser-level visibility without TLS inspection — observing network requests from inside the browser before encryption.

No. SWGs see URLs and traffic patterns — they can't analyze rendered page behavior for AiTM signatures or phishing kit mechanics. Session hijacking via token replay looks like normal HTTPS traffic to a legitimate domain.

Push detects AiTM behaviorally at the page level and session hijacking through marker injection. See Push's detection capabilities.

URL filtering is reactive — it blocks URLs already categorized as malicious. Phishing operations use new domains, trusted platforms, URL shorteners, and multi-stage redirects that defeat categorization. By the time a URL is categorized, the campaign has moved on.

Push detects phishing at the page behavior level, making domain rotation irrelevant. See behavioral detection.

For comprehensive web security, the two are complementary. SWGs for acceptable use enforcement and network-level policies. Push for behavioral threat detection, identity security, and browser-level control.

Most modern breaches exploit identity-layer vulnerabilities that SWGs can't detect.

Zscaler operates at the network/proxy layer — inspecting traffic between users and the internet. For network-layer security, alternatives include Netskope, Palo Alto Prisma Access, and Cloudflare Gateway. For browser-layer security — detecting attacks that network tools miss — browser security extensions like Push operate at a different layer entirely.

The framing matters: if you need an SWG replacement, evaluate SSE platforms. If you need to close the detection gap SWGs leave — AiTM phishing, ClickFix, session hijacking, credential theft — Push complements any SWG rather than replacing it. Read about SWG and browser security.