CASBs provide visibility into cloud and SaaS usage, compliance, data security, and threat protection. They help to mitigate shadow IT, secure the movement of data through limiting and monitoring access and sharing privileges, and protect the substance of the data by utilizing encryption.
CASB tools can include single sign-on, a CASB gateway, proxies, and malware detection.
Using CASB for Authentication
A CASB can authenticate users and determine whether or not they are authorized to use cloud resources. It can also detect unauthorized connections and protect against data breaches, such as when employees upload sensitive files to untrusted locations. CASBs can also integrate with single sign-on services and enable administrators to create security policies that require multifactor authentication or restrict rogue devices from connecting to cloud apps.
Another critical function of a CASB is detecting and remediating malware threats. It includes identifying ransomware and other threats that target unsanctioned applications. Additionally, it can assess threats based on user attributes, such as IP address, device, browser, and location.
CASBs can also encrypt or tokenize data, which makes it less accessible to unauthorized parties. It can help organizations comply with data protection regulations like the EU’s GDPR or new state and federal privacy laws. Finally, CASBs can monitor and report on cloud application usage. It can help organizations understand which cloud applications are used most often and improve their security posture. CASBs can also be deployed using an API or as a proxy, and they can provide optimization capabilities to reduce latency when deployed inline.
Using CASB for Encryption
CASBs are designed to detect and prevent misconfigurations, poor cybersecurity management, and other vulnerabilities that can lead to data breaches. To aid enterprises in defending against attacks, they should implement multimode security policies. For all of your cloud apps, whether they are software-as-a-service (SaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), or infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), the CASB examples you choose should provide comprehensive discovery capabilities.
CASBs should be able to encrypt data at rest and in transit for better security. Additionally, CASBs can detect and remove shared files from public and external locations to prevent data leaks. CASBs can also use benchmarks, continual traffic, and user attributes to identify suspicious behavior patterns, including ransomware, malware, botnets, and more.
The CASB should also offer key management to simplify and automate managing keys and their lifecycle, such as revoking and rotating. Ideally, your CASB will support Bring Your Key (BYOK) encryption and Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP). Using a CASB as part of a complete security strategy for the entire enterprise will help businesses secure their content from device to cloud.
Using CASB for Monitoring
A CASB offers visibility into how data is used within a cloud environment. It can help infosec teams discover “shadow IT” or unapproved systems that might introduce security risks. Some CASBs also enable administrators to monitor user activity to identify unauthorized data transfers or suspicious login attempts.
A primary function of a CASB is to secure sensitive data stored in cloud environments by using encryption, tokenization, and logging. CASBs can also apply compliance controls to cloud services to ensure compliance with regulatory standards like HIPAA and GDPR.
When choosing a CASB, look for solutions that offer the capabilities your organization needs. Evaluate vendor media coverage and analyst reports to find those with vital track records preventing breaches and quickly remediating security events. Ask vendors to provide a demo or trial so you can evaluate their solution in your environment before purchasing. Also, choose a solution that supports proxy and API mode to support your security architecture. CASBs operating in both methods can scan the contents of SaaS apps to detect and classify sensitive data and use API integrations to remediate misconfigurations.
Using CASB for Compliance
With the proliferation of cloud applications, the increase in remote work and BYOD, and the growing number of data breaches, it is crucial for healthcare organizations to ensure that they can meet compliance requirements. CASBs can help to achieve this by enabling more robust authorization controls and monitoring of data-in-motion. They can also help to identify and mitigate threats with features like anti-malware, sandboxing, packet inspection, and URL filtering.
CASBs can discover unsanctioned apps and affiliated employees and perform risk assessments to determine appropriate access levels. They can also detect sensitive data and encrypt or tokenize it. Finally, CASBs can provide a centralized view of all activity and alert administrators to suspicious behavior or attacks.
When choosing a CASB, evaluating the vendor landscape and looking for solutions that meet the organization’s use cases are crucial. Considering the solution’s performance is critical to avoid affecting network or user productivity. Once an organization has identified a CASB that can meet its needs, it should conduct a trial to test the functionality and ensure it is compatible with its existing infrastructure.
Using CASB for Reporting
With remote work and BYOD on the rise, enterprises need better visibility into their cloud deployments to determine which apps employees access. CASBs provide this visibility and identify unsanctioned applications or “shadow IT.” Risk assessments also allow IT to shape access policies based on user and device criteria.
The threat protection pillar of a CASB typically uses benchmarks, continual traffic data, and behavior analysis to detect suspicious activity and alert administrators. In addition to monitoring, CASBs offer a variety of security solutions to protect data from malicious actors. These include data encryption at rest and in transit, threat detection, and more.
Visibility, compliance, data security, and threat prevention are CASB’s four pillars. When evaluating a CASB vendor, consider each feature and find one that fits your business use cases. Start by assessing potential vendors through media coverage, analyst reports, and customer testimonials to ensure they fit your needs well. Then, conduct a pilot to ensure the CASB will work for your specific use case.