A CASB can help organizations gain visibility and control over their cloud environments, including Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), IaaS, PaaS, and more. This helps to reduce the risk of Shadow IT, where employees use unauthorized infrastructure and services without the approval of the organization’s IT team. The top CASBs offer deep activity analytics using telemetry to understand the baseline of normal user behavior. They can then detect anomalous behavior and alert administrators.
Cost
CASB security tools provide comprehensive visibility, control over data in transit, and powerful analytics that help organizations detect threats. The best CASB security providers, like Versa Networks, also support advanced encryption and tokenization to protect sensitive data from being intercepted by hackers. Shadow IT poses a real risk to organizations. Employees use cloud-based collaboration and messaging tools to share files without IT knowledge or approval. This can result in losing valuable intellectual property, including engineering designs, customer sales records, etc. With a CASB solution, organizations can monitor and control access to cloud services to reduce the threat of shadow IT. A CASB can discover and monitor cloud applications used by employees, identify non-corporate SaaS tenants, block access to applications that conflict with internal policies, and encrypt data in case of a breach. In addition, a CASB can prevent data loss by preventing the download of sensitive information from corporate environments to employee devices and blocking phishing and ransomware attacks at the gateway. When choosing the right CASB for an organization, consider its size and the expertise level of the security team. Large enterprises with more complex networks will require a suite of CASB solutions to cover their entire network. A smaller organization may benefit from a more simplified approach with a single CASB solution that provides API-level integrations for popular business apps.
Integrations
When evaluating CASB solutions, review the security features they offer. These include granular risk-based authentication and alerts, integration with other IT security solutions such as identity-as-a-service and single sign-on technologies, and encryption for data at rest and in transit. This ensures your organization is protected from the most common threats. A CASB solution can help you secure cloud applications by enforcing enterprise security policies on sanctioned and unsanctioned applications. For example, a CASB can block access to specific applications by default and allow only certain users. It can also identify and block misconfigurations that put your infrastructure at risk. It can also encrypt data and control personal devices and mobile applications. The most important feature of a CASB is its ability to detect and protect sensitive information from leakage. It can protect against various threats, including malware and phishing attacks that target cloud services. It can also protect against insider threats that could expose trade secrets, engineering designs, and other critical information to the public or competitors. CASBs can work with other IT security tools, including secure web gateways, application firewalls, and data loss prevention solutions. They are also helpful in detecting shadow IT and controlling the use of third-party sofa service applications—Additionally, CASBs aid businesses in adhering to industry regulations like HIPAA, GDPR, and PCI-DSS.
Scalability
With cloud adoption increasing across the enterprise, CASBs help ensure that sensitive data is protected and that compliance policies are enforced. Many of these solutions offer features such as data loss prevention (DLP), access control, information rights management, and encryption/tokenization. They also provide visibility into cloud apps and services, including their contents. Some CASBs are integrated with secure web gateways, application firewalls, and email providers. Identifying threats in cloud environments is a crucial component of any CASB solution. It enables administrators to detect malware risks and prevent them from spreading across networks. CASBs can also identify unauthorized devices and alert administrators of suspicious activity. CASBs also enable administrators to monitor the behavior of users, discover data that may have been uploaded to unapproved third-party locations, and prevent unauthorized accounts from being created on corporate resources. CASBs can also be used to prevent data leaks and meet compliance mandates, especially in regulated industries. These solutions can also integrate with other security systems, such as secure web gateways and SSO. They can be deployed as an on-premise gateway similar to a proxy or host-based agent. Choosing the right CASB requires careful consideration. Look for scalability, integration with other applications, and technical support. Most vendors offer a free trial period where you can try out their product with a limited number of cloud apps or services.
Security
When choosing a CASB security provider, ensure they use all possible measures to protect their customers. This includes encrypting data in the cloud, monitoring for ransomware, and securing integrations with other security solutions. This helps ensure that sensitive data is protected during a breach. It is also essential that the CASB provides visibility to cloud and SaaS environments, which often are not protected by traditional network security systems. CASBs can detect and prevent threats in the cloud, such as malware or phishing. They can also identify account compromises and alert administrators. They can also prevent users from uploading files to unauthorized locations, allowing organizations to monitor shadow IT. A CASB solution should have robust integrations with other security tools, such as secure web gateways, application firewalls, and data loss prevention (DLP) solutions. It should also support multiple deployment methods, including forward proxies, reverse proxies, and API-based integrations. It should also be able to analyze logs, provide alerts, perform device posture profiling, and enable encryption or tokenization. It should also be able to integrate with email providers, which is especially important if you use third-party solutions for managing emails and attachments. In addition, the CASB should provide visibility to cloud applications and data in the context of user activity.
