A recent interview with Island’s founding team member Brian Kenyon at Black Hat 2023 sheds light on how the enterprise browser is poised to become a powerful platform for secure remote work. Island offers a version of the Chromium open-source browser customized for the needs of enterprises. According to Kenyon, the enterprise browser holds enormous promise as the interface through which companies distribute software, apply access controls, generate usage analytics, and enable productivity.
Kenyon explains that browsers entered the workplace mainly as a portal for personal tasks like online shopping between meetings. Enterprises tried to limit liability by restricting certain sites but otherwise did little to manage browser usage. However, browsers now access critical cloud applications and sensitive corporate data. Despite this shift, employees still use the same consumer products like Chrome and Safari.