CASB Cloud Access Security Broker
Safely enabling cloud services for people and enterprises.
Introduction
According to Gartner, a cloud access security broker (CASB) is an on-premises or cloud-based security policy enforcement point that is placed between cloud service consumers and cloud service providers to combine and interject enterprise security policies as cloud-based resources are accessed. Think of the CASB as the sheriff that enforces the laws set by the cloud service administrators.
Organisations are increasingly turning to CASB vendors to address cloud service risks, enforce security policies, and comply with regulations, even when cloud services are beyond their perimeter and out of their direct control.
Cloud app security has become an essential component of a comprehensive enterprise defence in today’s cloud-driven world. Gartner estimates that, by 2022, 60% of enterprises will incorporate CASB into their security toolbox – up from less than 20% today.
The Four Pillars of CASBs
1.) Visibility
Companies need visibility and control across both managed and unmanaged cloud services. Rather than take an “allow” or “block” stance on all cloud services, cloud brokerage should enable IT to say “yes” to useful services while still governing access to activities and data within services. This could mean offering full access to a sanctioned suite like Microsoft 365 to users on corporate devices, but web-only email to users on unmanaged devices. It could also mean enforcing a “no sharing outside of the company” policy across a category of unsanctioned services.
While cloud security is the key focus of a cloud access security broker, another value provided is helping you get your arms around cloud spend. A CASB can help you discover all cloud services in use, report on what your cloud spend is, and find redundancies in functionality and license costs. A CASB can produce valuable business and financial information as well as protection.
2. Compliance
Compliance is a major consideration when organisations decide to move their data and systems to the cloud. These compliance standards are meant to ensure the safety of personal and corporate data, and ignoring these concerns can lead to dangerous and costly breaches.
Cloud access security brokers can help ensure compliance in the cloud whether you are a retail company concerned with PCI compliance, or a financial services organisation needing to comply with the PRA or FCA. A CASB can help safeguard your company against costly data breaches by maintaining the data regulations set by your industry.
3. Data Security
Accuracy comes from using highly sophisticated cloud DLP detection mechanisms like document fingerprinting, combined with reducing detection surface area using context (user, location, activity, etc.). When sensitive content is discovered in or en-route to the cloud, the cloud access security broker (CASB) should allow IT the option of shuttling suspected violations efficiently to their on-premises systems for further analysis.
Deeper research on threat observations aids your company in identifying and stopping malicious activity before it escalates, a CASB can act as a gatekeeper and facilitate this. Expert on both IT needs and business practices, CASBs take a skilled approach to sharpen an organisation’s security.
4. Threat protection
Organisations need to ensure their employees aren’t introducing or propagating cloud malware and threats through vectors such as cloud storage services and their associated sync clients and services. This means being able to scan and remediate threats across internal and external networks, in real-time when an employee tries to share or upload an infected file. This also means detecting and preventing unauthorized user access to cloud services and data, which can help to identify compromised accounts.
A CASB can defend an organization against a host of cloud threats and malware. It’s vital for your company to avoid threats that are capable of combining prioritized static and dynamic malware analysis for advanced threat intelligence. Some threats may originate from—or be further propagated by—cloud services, proper threat protection can be your shield.
Why choose SR Cloud Solutions?
SR Cloud Solutions has a 25-year track record of supplying managed security services to many organisations in different industries.
- The best technology – highest levels of accreditation with the world’s leading vendors such as Cisco, Fortinet, and Palo Alto.
- Skills and expertise with a UK-based 24/7 Security Operations Centre (SOC).
- We are a Joscar accredited business which means we are certified to work with leading defense companies who require the highest standards of cyber security.
- We are experts in Cloud infrastructures such as Microsoft Azure so we can provide expert security consultancy on hybrid cloud environments and how best to secure and monitor those environments including Cloud Governance.
Book a meeting with one of our consultants to learn more or read on more below to find out more about our CASB Solutions.
Benefits of CASB
Govern Usage
Well-known for efficiency in discovering shadow IT behaviors, CASBs are also savvy across further organization security. A CASB can govern your organisation’s cloud usage with granular visibility and control. Rather than take a one-size-fits-all approach by blocking services, CASBs allow you to govern usage based on identity, service, activity, application, and data. Additionally, you can define policies based on service category or risk and choose from actions such as block, alert, bypass, encrypt, quarantine, and coach for policy enforcement. Finally, you can use these instances to alert your IT team for actions taken against any policy in place for internal monitoring.
Protect Against Threats
Guard against cloud-based threats such as malware and ransomware. Start with full visibility of all cloud services, even those using SSL-encrypted connections. Use anomaly detection, and threat intelligence sources such as which of your users has compromised accounts. Then, layer in static and dynamic anti-malware detections, plus machine learning to detect ransomware. Finally, arm the rest of your security infrastructure with your findings through out-of-the-box integrations and workflows. Threats will continue to innovate their approach, so your CASB vendor should too.
Secure Data
Protect and prevent the loss of sensitive data across all of the cloud services in your environment, not just the ones you sanction. Take advantage of advanced, enterprise DLP to discover and protect sensitive data in sanctioned cloud services and en route to or from any cloud service, sanctioned or unsanctioned, whether users are on-premises or remote, on a mobile device or accessing from a web browser, or entering from a mobile app or sync client. Combat loss of data with encryption, tokenization, or upload prevention.
Meet Compliance Requirements
Organisations in virtually all sectors are finding that maintaining compliance has become a daunting task. Many regulations and industry mandates now require you to know where your data is and how it’s shared in the cloud. Violations of recent data privacy and residency regulations can result in hefty fines. For example, violators of GDPR can be fined up to 4% of worldwide annual revenue. CASBs can lighten the compliance burden and spare you the headaches at audit time.
Join Other Leading Companies Who Trust SR Cloud Solutions
Frequently Asked Questions
A CASB is used to help ensure regulatory compliance and data protection, govern cloud usage across devices and cloud applications, and protect against threats. As organisations migrate services to the cloud, CASBs will become an essential element of their security profiles.
CASBs use a three-part process to offer visibility across sanctioned and unsanctioned applications and control over enterprise data in the cloud.
Discovery
The CASB identifies all cloud applications in use as well as affiliated employees.
Classification
The CASB assesses each application, identifies its data, and calculates a risk factor.
Remediation
The CASB creates a tailored policy for the enterprise based on its security needs. From there the CASB identifies and remediates any incoming threats or violations.
A CASB solution is a set of products and services that function as a secure gateway between enterprise employees and cloud applications and services.
In the modern work era, enterprises are responsible for increasingly complex security enforcements between users and cloud-based applications. Traditional security systems only block or allow access, and no longer serve a cloud-based enterprise contending with multiple locations and devices. A CASB allows an organisation to take a nimble, flexible approach to security policy enforcement, providing tailored options for the contemporary workforce and balancing access with data security.
While most CASBs are deployed in the cloud, on-premise options are available. CASBs operate with three different deployment models, and multimode CASBs that utilize all three offer the most flexibility and robust protection.
API scanning
Available for sanctioned enterprise applications, API scanning is an unobtrusive security measure for data at rest in the cloud, but it does not offer real-time prevention.
Forward proxy
Forward proxy offers DLP in real time for both sanctioned and unsanctioned applications, but only applies to managed devices, and cannot scan data at rest.
Reverse proxy
A reverse proxy redirects all user traffic, and therefore works for both managed and unmanaged devices. It offers DLP in real time, but only on sanctioned applications.
Discover all cloud apps and services in use
Shadow IT can comprise up to 60 percent of an enterprise’s cloud services. A CASB offers a full picture of all cloud-based applications in use.
Assess risk and compliance in cloud-based apps
Assess general security, regulatory compliance, and legal factors for any cloud-based app your enterprise uses.
Enable monitoring to detect new and risky cloud apps
A CASB’s continuous monitoring policies help to ensure your enterprise is alerted to new cloud-based services and spikes in usage.
Enforce DLP and compliance policies for sensitive data stored in your cloud apps
CASBs enforce DLP policies as soon as data arrives in the cloud, and help enterprises locate sensitive files in the cloud and provide remediation options.
Protect data on unmanaged devices
Configure granular access to prevent downloads or apply protection labels on unmanaged devices.
Detect and remediate malware in cloud apps
CASBs monitor and identify malicious files in cloud-based apps, offering remediation options to enable enterprises to react quickly.
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