This post was originally published here by Jacob Serpa.
Why You Need a CASB
Now more than ever, enterprises are turning to the cloud. By using IaaS and SaaS applications, companies are able to gain a number of benefits that are unavailable with rigid, traditional solutions. For example, migrating to the cloud allows firms to cut down on the costs associated with having in-house infrastructure and larger IT teams. In addition to this cost benefit, increased flexibility is readily available with the cloud. Because companies need fewer traditional, on-premises solutions, they are granted greater scalability. Whether it’s because of data storage or web traffic, scaling up and down are both simple endeavors with the cloud.
Businesses continue to invent new ways of doing things. With bring your own device (BYOD), employees can now work remotely and access company data from managed and unmanaged devices. While this provides flexibility and efficiency for employees and their companies, it does pose a number of security risks. Data is exposed in transit, on devices, and with cloud vendors, and employees may use unsanctioned cloud apps (shadow IT) to perform their work.
With the threats associated with using the cloud, enterprises must not ignore the shared responsibility modelof security. Namely, it is the responsibility of both cloud vendors and the companies using their services to keep data secure. While vendors can ensure that their services in the cloud are secure, it is up to companies themselves to address concerns about data access policies, identity management (IdM), phishing, and much more. Sadly, many companies assume that they can rely solely on cloud vendors’ API-only security solutions. By doing so, they leave themselves vulnerable to cyberattacks.
Rather than rely on traditional security measures that only offer on-premises protection, companies accessing the cloud must take steps to address the sophisticated, modern threats with which they will be faced. Specifically, firms must find a single, comprehensive solution that can address all of their concerns smoothly, completely, and in a way that employees will accept.
Cloud access security brokers (CASBs) are complete security solutions that can offer end-to-end protection on devices, in the cloud, and in transit between the two. By taking a data-centric approach to security, some CASBs can address the above concerns on both managed and unmanaged devices. Through their visibility and management capabilities, they allow enterprises to see what happens to their data and exercise control over it. CASBs provide tools ranging from watermarking and redaction to encryption and shadow IT discovery. For enterprises seeking a complete cybersecurity solution, a cloud access security broker is the option of choice.
Join us for Part Two where we will discuss the specific capabilities you need for cloud security, and be sure to download our Definitive Guide to CASBs to learn more.
Photo:Happiest Minds
