Cloud computing offers flexibility, scalability, and cost-efficiency. However, it comes with a set of challenges, particularly cybersecurity. As organizations increasingly migrate their data and operations to the cloud, they face a growing need to secure their cloud access and protect sensitive data from various potential threats. This is where a CASB (Cloud Access Security Broker) comes into play.
CASB plays a crucial role in modern cybersecurity, tackling the particular security issues of cloud computing. It acts as a sentinel, monitoring the gateways between user devices, networks and cloud services and ensuring that data remains protected beyond the traditional perimeter.
What is CASB?
At its core, CASB is a specialized security solution designed to fortify cloud security. It serves as a vital bridge connecting on-premises security measures with cloud-based services. This ensures that organizations can seamlessly extend their security policies and controls into cloud environments. It operates as an intermediary between cloud service providers and end-users, giving organizations granular visibility and control over their cloud-based activities.
CASB solutions come in various forms, offering a range of features and functionalities. These solutions can be deployed as on-premises appliances, cloud-based services, or hybrid models, depending on organizations' specific requirements and preferences.
Regardless of the deployment model, the primary goal of CASB is to enable organizations to safely and securely leverage cloud services while maintaining the highest data protection and compliance standards.
How CASB Cyber Security Enhances Data Protection
One of CASB's fundamental roles is to enhance cybersecurity within cloud environments. As the adoption of cloud services continues to grow and cyber threats become more advanced, the need to secure cloud access and data has never been more critical. A CASB serves as the front line of defense, actively thwarting cyber threats in the cloud.
Preventing Data Breaches: A CASB helps organizations prevent data breaches by monitoring data in transit and at rest in the cloud. In 2023, 39% of organizations surveyed experienced a data breach in their cloud environment, making cloud data security a top priority. CASB enforces encryption, access controls, and data loss prevention policies to ensure that sensitive information is not compromised.
Protecting Against Insider Threats: Insider threats pose a significant risk to organizations. In 2023, the average company surveyed had 1 out of 6 employees share company data with their personal email account. Even worse, 90% of companies have former employees who accessed assets stored in SaaS applications after they left the company. CASB solutions employ advanced behavioral analytics to detect unusual user activities that may indicate insider threats. By identifying and mitigating these risks, CASB enhances overall security.
Adapting to the Evolving Threat Landscape: The threat landscape in the cloud is continually evolving. Cybercriminals employ new tactics and techniques to infiltrate cloud environments. CASB solutions stay up-to-date with the latest threat intelligence and leverage machine learning algorithms to effectively detect and respond to emerging threats.
CASB Architecture
Understanding the architecture of CASB solutions is essential for organizations looking to implement this technology effectively. It typically consists of various components and features that work in unison to provide visibility into cloud usage, enforce security policies, and detect and respond to threats.
Key Components of CASB Solutions:
- API Connectors: CASB solutions often rely on cloud service providers' Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to gain visibility and control over cloud activities. API connectors establish a connection between the CASB solution and cloud applications, allowing for monitoring of data flow and enforcement of security policies.
- Proxies: Proxies act as inline intermediaries between end-users and cloud services, providing the CASB solution with the ability to inspect and control traffic. Proxies can be deployed in various ways, including forward and reverse proxy modes.
- Agents: CASB agents are often installed on end-user devices to provide visibility and control over data transferred between these devices and the cloud. Agents are useful for enforcing security policies on devices outside the corporate network.
Deployment Models for CASB:
CASB solutions offer different deployment models to suit organizations' needs:
- Forward Proxy CASB: In this model, traffic is routed through a proxy gateway before reaching cloud services. It allows for deep inspection and control of traffic but may introduce latency.
- Reverse Proxy CASB: Reverse proxies are placed in front of cloud services, intercepting traffic and enforcing security policies. This model offers robust security but requires changes to DNS settings. It is also likely to introduce delays.
- API-Based CASB: This model relies on API connectors to gain visibility and control over data flowing back and forth between end-user devices and cloud services. The API offers observation without interception. Its visibility is less real-time than agents or proxies, but it will not slow down the flow of data as agents and proxies commonly do.
Different Types of API-Based CASBs
Cloud access security brokers that are based on APIs have two different types of API architecture they can utilize: pull-style APIs and push-style APIs.
Pull-style API-based CASBs
Pull-style API-based CASBs poll the cloud service at intervals to check what has changed since the last time it checked. It then reviews those changes, decides whether any of the events are relevant to its programmed security policies, and applies the policies.
Polling intervals vary greatly across pull-style API-based cloud access security brokers, ranging from minutes to hours to days, and even weeks. The longer the interval, the farther from real-time your CASB’s awareness of the changing attack surface and possible threats becomes. MTTD and MTTR increase,
Additionally, when the cloud service uses a SaaS model, pull-style APIs can fail in pulling all the relevant changes because of rate limitations on the SaaS API. This is especially true when the CASB is trying to poll the SaaS application at frequent polling intervals, measured in seconds or minutes.
Push-style API-based CASBs
Push-style API-based CASBs do not poll the cloud service. Instead, the cloud service pushes notifications of change events to the CASB. As soon as the CASB receives the event notification, it can review and implement relevant security policies.
Push-style APIs enable the CASB to have near-real-time awareness of the changing attack surface and to react quickly to potential threats. And because they do not need to poll the SaaS application in order to get the information, they do not run up against its API rate limitations.
What are the 4 Pillars of CASB Functionality?
The four pillars of CASB functionality are a framework created by Gartner to use in evaluating cloud access security brokers. The pillars in the framework are:
- Visibility
- Data security
- Threat protection
- Compliance
Visibility
If you don’t know it’s there, you can’t defend it - or defend against it. CASBs should give visibility into:
- User activity
- Unsanctioned third-party OAuth apps (Shadow IT)
- Sanctioned third-party OAuth apps and their activity
Data Security
Your company’s important data should stay within the purview of your company. CASBs should make sure that your data is not exfiltrated, copied, shared or otherwise exposed through:
- Data loss prevention
- Information rights management
- Data integrity checks
- Access control
Threat Protection
Threats to your cloud security can come from external sources, such as cyber attacks, phishing scams or malware, or from internal risks, such as disgruntled employees or negligence. CASBs should detect and respond to:
- Insider threats
- Compromised accounts
- Privilege escalation
- Unusual API activity
Compliance
Almost any organization is subject to data regulations like the GDPR, and all the more so for heavily regulated industries like finance. CASBs should support your compliance initiatives by:
- Identification of sensitive data
- Enforcement of data security policies
Choosing the Right Security Approach: CASB vs SASE Explained
CASB is often compared to SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) in cloud security. While both technologies address cloud security, they have distinct focuses and capabilities.
When to Use CASB and Consider SASE
Organizations should consider their specific requirements when deciding between CASB and SASE:
- Choose CASB When: Your primary concern is securing cloud access and data, and you require granular visibility and control over cloud activities.
- Consider SASE When: You need a comprehensive solution that addresses both network and cloud security, offering secure access to a wide range of resources, including on-premises and cloud-based services.
Benefits and Outcomes of CASB Adoption
Adopting a Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) offers many benefits and positive outcomes for organizations navigating the complexities of cloud security.
- Enhanced Visibility into Cloud Usage: CASB provides granular visibility into cloud services, applications, and user activities. This visibility enables organizations to monitor cloud usage effectively and identify potential risks.
- Effective Prevention of Data Breaches and Data Loss: CASB enforces encryption, access controls, and data loss prevention policies to safeguard sensitive data. It helps prevent data breaches and ensures that critical information remains secure.
- Improved Data Security, Regulatory Compliance, and Business Continuity: CASB solutions assist organizations in achieving and maintaining compliance with data protection regulations. By enhancing data security and preventing breaches, CASB contributes to business continuity.
- Strengthened User Access Control and Identity Management: CASB enhances user access control and identity management, ensuring that only authorized personnel can access sensitive data.
- Streamlined Incident Response: CASB solutions facilitate incident response by providing real-time alerts and insights into security incidents. This enables organizations to take prompt action to mitigate risks.
- Consistency Between Local and Production Environments: CASB helps organizations maintain consistency between their on-premises security policies and those in the cloud. This ensures a cohesive and comprehensive security posture.
- Reinforced Trust in Digital Operations and Cloud Security: By ensuring data security and compliance, CASB reinforces trust in digital operations and the protection of cloud resources.
Key Takeaways: The Crucial Role of CASB Solutions
CASB addresses complex cloud environments, data protection, shadow IT, compliance, user access management, threat detection, integration, cost-effectiveness, user experience, and scalability.
As organizations continue to the cloud, CASB remains a critical guardian of cloud security, reinforcing the importance of securing cloud access and data in the digital age. By leveraging such solutions, organizations can embrace the benefits of the cloud while safeguarding their most sensitive assets.
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