What is Browser Lockdown?
Browser lockdown is all about restricting internet access on a web browser. Browsers can be locked down to a single website or a list of pre-approved websites. It is usually enforced on devices issued for a sole purpose where users need access to one or more unique websites to get their job done.
Businesses can use browser lockdown on corporate devices to boost online productivity. Employees get access to all the web portals they need for work while none of those social networking sites and time-hogging apps. Moreover, it also helps improve the security posture by having users stay clear of phishing sites, spam, and malware. It essentially acts as a kiosk browser setup.
Browser lockdown is also a great way for schools and educational institutions to monitor students’ online browsing behavior and ensure they aren’t exposed to harmful content on the web. The kiosk lockdown experience on student devices also cuts down distractions during class hours and help conduct malpractice-free tests and assignments.
Initiating Browser Lockdown in your organization
Deploying a browser lockdown in an organization where thousands of devices are issued at once might turn out to be a bit cumbersome. There are many lockdown browsers in the market but most of them lack scalability. A mobile device management software like Hexnode MDM can provide a solution to this problem.
Hexnode comes with kiosk lockdown capabilities built-in through features like website kiosk, blacklisting / whitelisting websites etc. You or your IT admin can secure browsing in the devices issued to employees with help of these capabilities. You can limit access to URLs by blacklisting them, or you can limit browsing to a few whitelisted URLs on your own. All these can be done remotely over the air.
Lockdown kiosk devices to a few websites with Hexnode MDM.
Browser Lockdown for Android Devices
If you need to prevent the user from accessing websites online that are not needed for work and allow the user to access only the necessary set of websites when using the device, the browser lockdown would come into play. A browser lockdown situation can be created in an Android device with the help of the Website Kiosk feature provided by Hexnode MDM thorough its kiosk lockdown capabilities.
How to set up browser lockdown on Android devices.
- Open Hexnode MDM portal
- Click on the Policies tab
- Click on the “New Policy” button or Edit existing policies.
- Select “Kiosk Lockdown Tab“
- Under Android Kiosk Lockdown, select “Website Kiosk” option
For adding advanced restrictions
- Select “Advanced Website Kiosk settings“
Learn more with Hexnode’s webinar on Website Kiosks: WATCH WEBINAR
Once you have opted for Website Kiosk you can then configure the various aspects of your browser lockdown. Under the Website Kiosk tab, you can choose which browser would be available to your employees in their respective devices. The first one is the Hexnode Browser Lite a single tabbed browser that opens the websites approved by the admin. It can only open external URLs inside the web app, provided the URLs are whitelisted. It can also open web apps if previously added in Hexnode App inventory.
The second option is Hexnode Browser. It enables secure browsing by restricting the organization’s access to a few websites. It allows you to restrict access to either single tabbed browsing / multi-tabbed browsing. The third option is to select any other browser, like Google Chrome. For this option to work you have to evoke the multi-app kiosk mode and then add the particular browser app and then select the app in the Website Kiosk configurations.
At this point, you also have to enter the list of whitelisted websites that you would allow your employees to browse in their devices.
It is also possible to set advanced restrictions on the imposed browser lockdown via Hexnode’s portal. Keep in mind these restrictions are only applicable for Hexnode Browser and Hexnode Lite Browser.
Browser Lockdown for iOS devices.
Similar to Android devices, browser lockdowns can also be implemented in iOS devices. The function provided is pretty much the same. The user is provided restricted access to the internet through whitelisting/ blacklisting. But the way we go about establishing the browser lockdown is different.
Specific websites can be provisioned in kiosk lockdown mode in iOS devices. You may restrict access to websites with Safari or Hexnode Browser Lite. With Safari, a single website or multiple websites can be whitelisted as required. Here, the Safari browser is acting as a kiosk app. The whitelisted websites will appear in the browser as bookmarks.
With the Hexnode Browser Lite, the apps can be locked in either single-web app or multi-web kiosk mode. In a single web app kiosk mode, the device could be locked to a single website while multiple websites would be available in multi-web app kiosk mode. In addition, you can also add external links that can be accessed from within the web app by whitelisting them.
So before you go about creating the policy for browser lockdown, make sure that all the required URLs are added in the app as Web Apps.
How to set up browser lockdown in iOS devices
- Open Hexnode MDM portal
- Click on the Policies tab
- Click on the “New Policy” button or Edit existing policies.
- Select “Kiosk Lockdown Tab“
- Under iOS Kiosk lockdown, select “Website App” option
For adding advanced restrictions
- Select “Advanced Web App settings“
Here, you can select the browser of your choice, Safari, or Hexnode lite browser. Once, you have selected that, then you should enter all the URLs you wanted to be whitelisted.
Once that’s completed, you can now set advanced configurations. Remember, this would only be available if you choose Hexnode lite Browser.
Industry use-cases for Browser Lockdown.
Schools
If an educational institution is planning to issue mobile devices such as tabs to students, then browser lockdown is an important and unavoidable feature.
Firstly, with the help of browser lockdown, the administration can improve student productivity. The admin can whitelist all the websites that the students are allowed to use. This means the students can’t use the school issued device for any other purpose on the internet. Secondly, a browser lockdown is particularly useful during tests or quizzes. By employing specific configurations mentioned above, tests and online quizzes can be conducted safely and can be easily monitored. For example, the scheduled refresh feature coupled with the clear browser history feature available in both Android and iOS devices can be used to make sure that student doesn’t get any unwarranted help during their evaluation.
Corporate
In a corporate office scenario, devices enabled with browser lockdown can be used as a task-specific device. For example, certain information has to be collected from customers in person. The best way to go about accomplishing this task is by using a task-specific device, in this case, enabled by a browser lockdown. The browser can be locked down to only display the webpage with the specific form in which the info has to input, this can be achieved through toolbar settings and appearance settings. Other configurations like scheduled refresh, clear cache, and form settings can also be used to make sure that the data entered by the customers is safe and not vulnerable to leaks.
Such forms of task-specific devices improve productivity in a corporate environment.
Logistics
In an iteration of task-specific devices, ELDs or Electronic Logging Devices are widely used in the logistics industry. The basic functionality of an ELD is to track the working hours of a driver. With a device equipped with a browser lockdown and kiosk lockdown, you can convert any mobile device into an ELD. The device can be locked down to the particular webpage which displays the login portal. This could ensure that this device is not misused in any way.
Healthcare
Mobile devices issued to patients while they are in the hospital can be put under browser lockdown. With whitelisting, you can ensure that the patients won’t get access to inappropriate content. Multi-tab browsing can also be made available to them.
