RSAC Fireside Chat: Enterprise browsers arise to align security with the modern flow of work – Source: www.lastwatchdog.com

By Byron V. Acohido

A quiet but consequential shift is underway in enterprise workspace security. The browser has effectively become the new operating system of business.

Related: Gartner’s enterprise browser review

It didn’t happen all at once. But as SaaS took over, remote work went mainstream, and generative AI entered the picture, the browser quietly assumed a central role.

Today, it’s where employees access cloud data, navigate core workflows, and — increasingly — interact with powerful AI agents. Traditional file systems are fading. The endpoint is scattered. And the network perimeter, once the centerpiece of security strategy, has become an afterthought.

The security implications are significant. Endpoint tools can’t see what’s happening inside encrypted browser sessions. Identity platforms validate who you are — but they don’t follow what you do next. And network defenses often miss the fact that sensitive data is now exchanged entirely outside the corporate WAN.

At RSAC 2025, I spoke with Amir Ben-Efraim, CEO of , about this shift and how it’s forcing a rethink of control strategies. Menlo’s view is clear: if the browser is now the front door to everything, it needs to be treated as a first-class security layer.

Some vendors have responded by creating entirely new enterprise browsers — clean-slate platforms built to replace Chrome and Edge. Menlo, by contrast, is betting that most organizations would rather reinforce what’s already in use.

Their approach provides cloud-based browser security, rendering content directly on the endpoint using the browsers employees already know and trust. As part of its solution, the company offers a browser extension that delivers least-privileged access to applications, which protects enterprise applications from external threats.

It’s a philosophical split, and it’s starting to feel like a VHS vs. Betamax moment. Both camps are trying to solve the same problem — preventing data leakage, blocking phishing, managing shadow SaaS — but they differ sharply on how far enterprises are willing to go to regain control.

Listen to the full conversation in our RSAC 2025 Fireside Chat podcast.

I’ll keep watch and keep reporting.

Pulitzer Prize-winning business journalist Byron V. Acohido is dedicated to fostering public awareness about how to make the Internet as private and secure as it ought to be.

(LW provides consulting services to the vendors we cover.)

May 21st, 2025 | Podcasts | RSAC | Top Stories