Browser isolation and enterprise browsers are two ways of making the web browser itself the place where a company applies its security rules. Browser isolation runs a web page in a browser in a security company's cloud, so that nothing from the page runs on the user's laptop. An enterprise browser is a browser that the company controls, with rules on what each user may copy, download or print.
Why the browser? Most office work now happens in a browser. Email, the CRM, the HR system and the accounts software all open in it. So if the company controls the browser, it controls most of what staff can do with company data. This is one form of zero trust, because the rules apply on every device, inside or outside the office.
Browser isolation works like this. When a user opens a risky page, the page actually opens in a browser in the security cloud. Any harmful code on the page runs there, not on the laptop. The laptop receives only a safe copy of the page: a stream of images, or a cleaned version of the page with the code removed. The user scrolls and clicks as usual. Isolation is often used for links in email, and for websites in risky categories that the secure web gateway picks out.
An enterprise browser works differently. It runs on the laptop, but the company sets its rules. Imagine a customer support company in Noida with 600 agents. Some agents are contractors who work from home on their own laptops. They log in to the enterprise browser through single sign-on (SSO). Then they open the customer records application. Inside that application, the browser switches off copying, printing, screenshots and downloads. One agent tries to copy a customer's phone number into a personal chat website. The browser blocks the paste and records the attempt. These rules do the job of data loss prevention (DLP), inside the browser. The same morning, another agent clicks a link in an email from an unknown sender. The page opens in isolation, in the security cloud's site in Mumbai. His laptop receives only images of the page.
Before enterprise browsers, the usual answer was to give each contractor a virtual desktop, a whole computer that runs on a server and is shown on the contractor's screen. That costs more, and it feels slower to use. The enterprise browser applies similar rules on the contractor's own laptop.
Several large security companies now sell an enterprise browser. Many in the industry expect it to become the main point of control between staff and company applications.