Analyst(s): Fernando Montenegro
Publication Date: July 25, 2025
The browser has become the center of the modern enterprise work environment, making it a critical control point for security, especially in hybrid work models and/or involving unmanaged devices. This shift has revealed significant gaps in traditional security stacks, driving demand for new approaches. The evolving browser security market is now defined by a strategic conflict between integrated platforms, a growing ecosystem of specialized offerings, and the urgent need for new approaches to govern emerging autonomous AI agents.
Key Points:
- The browser’s central role in enterprise workflows, particularly for unmanaged devices, establishes it as a critical security control plane that traditional tools fail to protect adequately.
- The market is defined by a strategic choice between specialized point products prioritizing deep functionality and integrated security platforms offering operational simplicity.
- The emergence of autonomous AI agents within browsers fundamentally alters the threat landscape, shifting the security imperative from protecting the user to governing the actions of the AI agent itself.
Overview:
The browser is now a crucial environment for security visibility and control, providing application context that other tools lack. This is critical as attackers shift to identity-based techniques such as session hijacking and other adversary-in-the-browser attacks. The challenge is most acute for unmanaged devices, where the browser is often the only controllable component. In response, a diverse market has emerged. Organizations can choose integrated offerings from large SASE vendors, which bundle browser protection into a broader security stack. Alternatively, they can turn to a growing field of standalone specialists. These options include dedicated enterprise browsers such as those from Island and Surf Security that replace a standard browser entirely, extension-based approaches from vendors such as SquareX that add a security layer to existing browsers, and identity-focused tools from companies such as Push Security.
This third-party market exists alongside the native security features that are continually evolving within major browsers such as Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. While these browser providers offer a baseline of policy and data protection controls tied to their ecosystems, specialized offerings are often required to address specific gaps, particularly for unmanaged devices. Ultimately, user experience is a critical battleground. Security solutions that introduce friction, latency, or application compatibility issues will face significant adoption challenges, a dynamic amplified by the rise of autonomous AI agents that create a complex new attack surface and demand more sophisticated governance.
What to Watch:
- How will enterprises balance user demands for productivity and choice with the evolution of integrated security platform offerings?
- Will market consolidation continue to accelerate, or will the standalone enterprise browser category thrive with multiple vendors?
- What new governance frameworks will emerge to manage the risks of autonomous AI agents as they become active in both browsers and developer IDEs?
The full report is available via subscription to Futurum Intelligence’s Cybersecurity & Resilience IQ service—click here for inquiry and access.
Futurum clients can read more in the Futurum Intelligence Platform, and non-clients can learn more here: Cybersecurity & Resilience Practice.
About the Futurum Cybersecurity & Resilience Practice
The Futurum Cybersecurity & Resilience Practice provides actionable, objective insights for market leaders and their teams so they can respond to emerging opportunities and innovate. Public access to our coverage can be seen here. Follow news and updates from the Futurum Practice on LinkedIn and X. Visit the Futurum Newsroom for more information and insights.
Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted Technologies in the Writing Process: While preparing this work, the author used Google Gemini to summarize the original report. After using this service, the author reviewed and edited the content as needed. The author takes full responsibility for the publication’s content.
Author Information
Fernando Montenegro serves as the Vice President & Practice Lead for Cybersecurity & Resilience at The Futurum Group. In this role, he leads the development and execution of the Cybersecurity research agenda, working closely with the team to drive the practice's growth. His research focuses on addressing critical topics in modern cybersecurity. These include the multifaceted role of AI in cybersecurity, strategies for managing an ever-expanding attack surface, and the evolution of cybersecurity architectures toward more platform-oriented solutions.
Before joining The Futurum Group, Fernando held senior industry analyst roles at Omdia, S&P Global, and 451 Research. His career also includes diverse roles in customer support, security, IT operations, professional services, and sales engineering. He has worked with pioneering Internet Service Providers, established security vendors, and startups across North and South America.
Fernando holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil and various industry certifications. Although he is originally from Brazil, he has been based in Toronto, Canada, for many years.
