What Is a Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)?

CASBs are security solutions that inspect data passing between end users and their cloud services, blocking traffic deemed unsafe. Effective CASB use enables IT teams to enforce various security controls and policies such as zero-trust access control, authentication, data loss prevention (DLP), malware detection, content filtering, firewalling, monitoring, and more.

CASBs monitor all traffic to and from the user’s device, checking for both unapproved cloud services (shadow IT) and misconfigured security settings on approved services. To better understand CASB and what it could do for your business, let’s break it down into its core components and use cases.

The Core Components of CASB

Originally defined by Gartner, the industry analyst has defined the four main pillars or components of CASB as Visibility, Data Security, Threat Protection, and Compliance. 

Visibility

By monitoring traffic between end users and cloud services, CASB improves visibility into how your team utilizes different cloud-based applications. This includes gaining insights into shadow IT and the use of unapproved SaaS applications that either:

  • Do not meet your internal security standards
  • Require specific configuration to ensure data security

Employees might assume they have the power to use any SaaS products without approval from the IT team. This can lead to them using unsafe services or sharing data incorrectly, unwittingly making sensitive business information publicly available. By monitoring traffic between the cloud and end-users, CASB allows organizations to identify and solve these risks and other threats.

Plus, with detailed information on the cloud services used across the business, you can implement more control over access..

CASB Visibility Use Cases

  • Discovery reports identifying all the cloud services employees use. 
  • Alerting the IT teams when employees use a new SaaS application.
  • Evaluating risk associated with different cloud services.
  • Implementing zero-trust access controls that also adapt based on contextual information.
  • The enhanced visibility from CASB also helps beyond security, providing organizations with cloud app usage data to better manage their IT infrastructure and reduce spending (identifying redundancies or instances of over-licensing).

Data Security

Moving data from on-prem data centers to cloud-based applications means organizations need new security programs that deliver equivalent protections. CASB allows you to implement access controls and DLP procedures to secure cloud-based assets and prevent sensitive data from becoming accessible to unsanctioned users.

Combining DLP methods such as document fingerprinting with contextual information (user, location, activity, etc.), CASB solutions can accurately identify when private data leaves company-controlled systems. Upon discovery, the CASB provides fail-safes, enabling the IT team to shuttle violations to on-prem systems for additional analysis.

CASB Data Security Use Cases

  • Identifying unmanaged devices accessing your cloud services.
  • Scanning files uploaded to cloud apps to track sensitive information and ensure protections are in place.
  • Applying protective measures such as encryption or quarantining.
  • Automatically restrict access upon identifying a policy violation.

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Threat Protection

Beyond data leaks, CASBs also block external threats through a range of technologies, such as:

These methods and more help organizations protect themselves from employee error or malicious attacks from third parties seeking to profit from unauthorized access to your data. For instance, employees might accidentally introduce malware and other threats through cloud services (e.g., phishing emails, malware propagating through cloud storage services, or another vector).

CASB enables organizations to inspect all data uploaded, shared, or downloaded from the cloud to mitigate potential threats.

CASB Threat Protection Use Cases

  • Automatically scan existing and new files as they are uploaded to the cloud.
  • Implement protective measures when threats are identified, blocking or remediating potentially malicious traffic en route to or from your cloud services.
  • Provide a continually updated list of known malware.
  • User and entity behaviour analytics (UEBA) capabilities to identify compromised accounts.

Compliance

Any company holding consumer data must adhere to regulations designed to protect the customer’s privacy. That is even before considering stricter rules associated with specific industries such as financial services or healthcare. 

Complying with regulations while moving data to the cloud – it isn’t directly under the company’s control, can present a significant challenge. CASBs help businesses maintain and demonstrate compliance while receiving the benefits of cloud services. 

For instance, a typical requirement of data privacy regulations is proving that access is limited to approved users and has not been exposed to third parties. With CASB-enabled access controls and logs, you can show who accessed what and when demonstrating strict security controls to auditors.

CASB Compliance Use Cases

  • Evaluating the risk of non-compliance from using different SaaS options.
  • Maintaining audit trails beyond on-prem activity and into the cloud.
  • Tracking cloud activity such as sign-ins, downloads, uploads, and more.

Integrating CASB with a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)

Most businesses have moved on from closed local area networks (LANs) and staff only being able to do their job in a small number of fixed locations. While this approach stifles modern business operations, it offers a simple perimeter security strategy that is difficult to replicate once cloud-based systems are introduced.

Providing equivalent protections while accessing the benefits of the cloud requires more than CASB alone; it requires SASE. SASE is a comprehensive architecture integrating multiple web and cloud enterprise security technologies, such as 

While CASB protects against threats when using cloud-based services, SASE offers a complete and secure WAN network to connect employees across the entire organization. Ensuring employees can interact with corporate infrastructure and securely access the data they need to do their jobs regardless of location.

CASB can be utilized as a critical foundation of an organization’s broader SASE architecture, integrating with other technologies, such as secure web gateways (SWGs) – or as a stand-alone solution to protect against threats when using cloud services. 

However, when utilized on its own, CASB can struggle to deliver comprehensive functionality for some networks such as SD-WAN.

Maximize Security with Check Point’s SASE

Check Point is at the forefront of modern enterprise security, delivering SASE and CASB to businesses around the world and securing your sensitive data across the cloud. 

With Check Point’s SASE, we have combined workplace security and network optimization without impacting user experience – delivering 2x faster internet security and reduced operating complexity.

Book a demo with one of our experts today and learn how Harmony SASE will save time and reduce costs while ensuring security.

FAQs

What is the purpose of a cloud access security broker (CASB)?
CASB provides an additional point of enforcement between the cloud application users and the cloud services provider to reduce exposure to threats and provide protection to critical data.
What are the 4 pillars of CASB?
The four pillars are visibility, compliance, data security, and threat protection.
What are the 3 deployment models of a cloud access security broker?
CASB can be deployed on premises or in the cloud. The three different deployment models to consider are API-control, reverse proxy, and forward proxy.
Which of the following security controls does a cloud access security broker CASB provide?
CASB helps organizations with malware prevention, data loss prevention, and helps enforce company security policies to help protect cloud-based data.
What is CASB in simple terms?
CASB is an additional security point between users and a cloud-based service. In the real world, it’s like utilizing a security checkpoint before entering a venue.

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