The shift to cloud has facilitated a revolution in the way that employees collaborate, communicate, and work. In today’s landscape, the cloud frees up professionals to work from anywhere, providing on-demand, remote access to their organizations’ tools and data. The cloud has also proved vital for centralizing information, busting data silos, and streamlining workflows across departments and teams.
But along with these major benefits, there are serious security challenges found in cloud environments. The fallout from a data breach originating from a failure to secure the cloud can be devastating for businesses, resulting in everything from embarrassing data leaks to loss of investor and client trust, and even legal consequences.
A robust CASB security posture is key for ensuring your company’s cloud environment is secure, protecting both your business’ good name and sensitive data from bad actors. Here’s what you need to know about CASBs, their core functions, and how to pick the right CASB security solution for your business.
What is CASB in Cyber Security?
A Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) serves as a buffer between your cloud apps and users.
CASB in a cyber security context refers to the solution that regulates access to your organization’s cloud systems and data, ensuring that only authorized users can view, edit, and use them. These solutions also detect suspicious activity, helping organizations prevent and discover cloud-based breaches or other compromises early.
The 4 pillars of a strong CASB consist of the following core features and functionalities:
- Visibility
A solid CASB cyber security solution provides organizations with a holistic, big-picture look at where and how their sensitive data is exposed. You should be on top of every access point in your cloud that could potentially be exploited by bad actors, including asset sharing and over-permissioned third-party apps.
- Compliance
Each country and jurisdiction has its own unique requirements regarding data privacy, and a proper CASB can help organizations remain in compliance with local laws. This is especially important for businesses in highly regulated industries, such as finance and health.
- Data Security
One of the most important functions of a CASB is to ensure that your business’ cloud-based data is safe. You need to be sure that this data protection is applied across all major SaaS ecosystems used by your business, including Google Workspace, Box, Salesforce, and more.
- Threat Protection
Your CASB security solution should enable you to immediately respond to emerging threats, and easily eliminate historical and future SaaS data exposure, via AI-powered threat protection.
CASB Security: A Critical Safeguard for Your Business
There are numerous benefits to prioritizing CASB security in your organization. Essentially, your CASB establishes a centralized, all-in-one space for keeping track of cloud apps and how they’re being accessed and utilized across your business. You’ll gain enhanced visibility into cloud usage and critical data protection, as well as a tool for policy enforcement and compliance.
Your CASB security has tremendous significance within your company’s cyber security posture. A CASB serves as a crucial line of defense in the event of a cyber attack or attempt by bad actors to obtain your business’ sensitive information.
You can think of a CASB security as being the shield that helps you maintain a safe, secure cloud environment and smooth workflow. Without the right CASB security, your cloud could be breached and exploited by cybercriminals, leading to critical security failures and possibly irreparable damage to your business.
CASB Cyber Security: Essential Features
It’s clear that CASBs play an important role in cybersecurity. But what are their limitations, and how do they fit into your current security architecture?
CASBs don’t replace, but rather complement, firewalls. Even with an advanced CASB cyber security solution, you’ll still need firewalls and other traditional security elements in order to create the most secure cloud environment possible.
When it comes to suspicious or unusual activity, such as multiple logins within a short period of time, CASBs can help you stay on top of emerging threats. Your CASB should provide ongoing, round-the-clock monitoring of activity within the cloud, ensuring that you can respond swiftly and effectively to potential threats.
Choosing the Right CASB Solution for your Business
There are a number of questions you should ask when researching CASBs in order to determine which solution is ideal for your organization.
Can the solution grow to scale with your company?
Whether you’re a start-up in a hyper-growth phase or a multinational corporation, it’s crucial that your CASB is flexible enough to expand along with your business.
Is it a comprehensive, multi-tiered solution?
A one-size-fits-all solution probably won’t be sufficient to keep your cloud safe. You need a CASB that ensures you’re protected everywhere, covering both IaaS and SaaS.
Is this CASB a good fit with your business’ current security and compliance policies?
For a truly effective solution, you’ll need a CASB which provides you with event-based architecture, a multi-context approach, and seamless workflows. End-user engagement is also a critical part of a strong CASB.
Implementing a CASB: Challenges and Tips for Success
In order to make the most of your CASB, try to consolidate your cloud systems by using the fewest number of providers possible. It can be tough to implement a new CASB if your cloud environment involves multiple vendors or systems.
Additionally, you should consider the ease of integration with your existing security infrastructure before committing to a specific solution. Some CASBs won’t be the right fit for your current set-up. Be sure to research extensively and choose a CASB that’s a match for your existing cloud and security environment.
But most importantly, it’s paramount that the rules and protocols around cloud use and data sharing within your organization are clear. Be sure to establish ironclad policies regarding access and permissions to both your cloud services and data.
Your CASB can be a tool in your arsenal to keep stakeholders up-to-date regarding violations of these policies, and to put an end to risky activity as quickly as possible.
Why a ‘Big Picture’ CASB is Essential
Unlike traditional solutions, DoControl integrates business and security context for a quick
response to threats and effective insider risk management. Tailored for SaaS data scale and speed, our approach enables near-real-time threat detection, surpassing industry standards.
DoControl offers event-based architecture that’s the right fit for your organization’s unique needs, including your SaaS speed and scale. We provide multi-context enrichment for a risk- based approach that’s both proactive and secure.
Our CASB is designed to keep your business operations running seamlessly, with no downtime. DoControl’s granular security workflows ensure policy enforcement with zero impact on productivity.
Additionally, DoControl enables you to transform your team into an important resource for cloud security. Our solution engages users, helping boost efficiency and employee education around best practices for a safe cloud environment and data protection.
DoControl: Creating a Security-Conscious Cloud Culture
Reach out to DoControl today to learn more about adopting a CASB that protects your sensitive data with swift threat remediation, empowers your employees as part of your cloud security strategy, and ensures that your cloud is secure from a wide range of cybersecurity threats.
You’ll gain comprehensive, in-depth visibility into all layers of your SaaS application data, including assets, users and third party app connections. Real-time alerts for risky activity related to your SaaS application data means that you can remediate threats quickly, rather than needing to do damage control after a breach.
Armed with a complete view of all SaaS security threats facing your business, which include not only data exposure and risky user activity, but also over-permissioned third-party apps, you’ll be able to make the right decisions to protect your organization. Gain critical ownership of your cloud with DoControl.
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