Cloud Security: (CASB) A Plain English Guide to Cloud Access Security Brokers

A Cloud Access Security Broker, or CASB, is a tool that helps companies make sure their cloud-based software is used safely. It watches over the use of these services and makes sure they follow the company’s security rules. Think of it as a security guard that checks the digital traffic going to and from the cloud to keep company data safe and under control.

It provides a full view of all cloud app activities and has tools to prevent data loss and defend against cyber threats. It works for both office and mobile users, and integrates with other security measures for comprehensive protection. 

Maximising Security and ROI: The Strategic Advantages of Cloud Access Security Brokers for Modern Businesses

Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASBs) offer businesses a robust layer of security that is both comprehensive and adaptable. By mediating between users and cloud services, CASBs ensure that security policies are consistently enforced, providing a safeguard against data breaches and cyber threats.

This technical prowess translates into a tangible Return on Investment (ROI) as it not only protects the company’s valuable data assets but also streamlines compliance with various regulatory standards. The operational efficiencies gained through centralised security management reduce the need for multiple security tools, thereby optimising IT spending. For business leaders, the implementation of CASBs means fortified data protection, enhanced compliance posture, and a strategic advantage in operational efficiency—all contributing to a stronger bottom line.

Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASBs) are beneficial across various industries, particularly those that rely heavily on cloud services and have stringent data protection and compliance requirements. Here are some industries that benefit significantly from using a CASB:

• Healthcare: With strict regulations like HIPAA, healthcare organisations can use CASB to protect patient data and ensure compliance.
• Finance: Financial institutions can safeguard sensitive financial data and comply with industry standards like PCI DSS.
• Education: Educational institutions can monitor and control the use of cloud applications to protect student data and intellectual property.
• Retail: Retailers can secure customer data and manage cloud applications to enhance security and customer trust.
• Government: Government agencies can use CASB to secure public data and improve governance and compliance with regulations.
• Technology: Tech companies can protect intellectual property and manage cloud usage to foster innovation securely.

These industries, among others, find CASB solutions like Censornet essential for managing cloud activities, ensuring security, and maintaining compliance with various regulatory standards.

Deploying a Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) Offers Strategic Business Advantages

• Risk Mitigation: CASBs provide a comprehensive security framework that significantly reduces the risk of data breaches and cyber threats, safeguarding the company’s digital assets and reputation.
• Regulatory Compliance: With CASBs, businesses can ensure adherence to data protection regulations, avoiding costly fines and legal complications that can arise from non-compliance.
• Operational Efficiency: By integrating multiple security policies across cloud services, CASBs streamline security management, leading to operational efficiencies and cost savings.
• Strategic Visibility: CASBs offer detailed analytics and visibility into cloud application usage, enabling strategic decision-making based on actual data usage patterns.
• Competitive Advantage: The enhanced security posture provided by CASBs can serve as a competitive differentiator, positioning the company as a secure and trustworthy partner.
• Financial Prudence: CASBs can lead to a more efficient allocation of IT budgets by consolidating security needs into a single platform, reducing the need for multiple, potentially redundant, security solutions.

In essence, CASBs align with the strategic priorities of business leadership by protecting corporate data, ensuring compliance, optimising operations, and contributing to the bottom line.

Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) for Robust Data Protection

For IT teams responsible for overseeing IT infrastructure, the implementation of a Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) offers significant advantages. Serving as a pivotal security checkpoint, CASBs ensure that data policies are uniformly enforced across all cloud platforms. They grant a holistic perspective on cloud activity, empowering IT professionals to safeguard sensitive information against cyber threats and adhere to compliance regulations.

Additionally, CASBs provide the tools to evaluate and govern the risks linked to unauthorised applications, granting IT departments detailed oversight of the company’s cloud ecosystem. Such comprehensive surveillance and governance are essential for upholding a secure and proficient IT framework in the modern, cloud-driven business realm.

Here’s a summary of the key benefits of employing CASB solutions for businesses:

• Consistent Policy Enforcement: Apply uniform data policies across various cloud services.
• Visibility and Monitoring: Gain a complete view of cloud usage to protect sensitive data.
• Risk Management: Assess and control risks from unsanctioned applications.
• Regulatory Compliance: Ensure adherence to the latest regulatory standards.
• Operational Efficiency: Streamline security processes for better productivity.

These elements contribute to a fortified cloud environment, aligning with industry best practices and fostering secure, compliant business operations.

Enhancing Cybersecurity: The Synergy of CASBs and Cloud-Based Firewalls

Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASBs) and Cloud-Based Firewalls serve different, albeit complementary, roles in an organization’s security infrastructure.

CASB vs. Cloud-Based Firewalls:

• CASBs are security policy enforcement points that sit between users and cloud service providers. They offer deep visibility into cloud usage and granular control over it. CASBs can enforce a variety of security policies, such as authentication, encryption, and threat prevention, across both authorized and unauthorized applications and devices.
• Cloud-Based Firewalls, on the other hand, are primarily focused on protecting the network perimeter. They filter incoming and outgoing network traffic based on an applied rule set and help to protect from a wide range of network-based threats.

Will CASB Replace or Complement Firewalls? CASBs are not intended to replace traditional network security tools like firewalls. Instead, they are designed to complement them by providing capabilities that are generally unavailable in firewalls, such as:

• Detailed risk assessments for each cloud service.
• Contextual access control and data-centric security policies.
• Machine learning to detect and respond to cloud-based threats.
• Policy enforcement for data at rest in the cloud.

Together, CASBs and firewalls deliver better visibility into cloud usage and the ability to enforce compliance and governance policies to protect corporate data as it moves to the cloud. Therefore, CASBs are seen as a complement to an organisation’s existing firewall infrastructure, enhancing its value by making it cloud-aware and extending its protection capabilities to cloud environments.

How Does Censornet CASB Compare to Other Solutions

Censornet is a company that specialies in providing autonomous integrated cloud security solutions. They offer a platform designed to empower businesses by delivering comprehensive security across email, web, and cloud applications. Their Cloud Application Security Broker (CASB) solution is a key part of their offerings, enabling businesses to discover, analyse, secure, and manage user interactions with cloud applications.

With Censornet’s CASB, companies can achieve complete visibility and control, protecting their modern mobile workforce from various digital threats. The CASB solution is integrated with Web Security for visibility and protection at every stage of an attack, ensuring a robust defense against new multi-channel attack techniques.

Censornet is headquartered in the United Kingdom and serves a global customer base, providing security solutions that are trusted worldwide

Censornet CASB is recognised for providing a unified security platform that integrates with Web Security for visibility and protection at every stage of an attack. It offers a multimode solution that combines inline and API security, ensuring comprehensive coverage and the elimination of blind spots. This approach is designed to defend against new multi-channel attack techniques effectively.

When compared to other CASB solutions, Censornet stands out for its:

• Flexible Deployment: Options for agents, gateways, or both, with centralised policy management to protect office and mobile users.
• Extensive App Catalogue: Continuous updates to a catalogue of hundreds of business applications and thousands of actions.
• Data Loss Prevention (DLP): Analysis of files uploaded to cloud apps with templates for personal data, confidential content, PCI DSS, HIPAA, etc., or the ability to create custom templates.

Enhance Business Security: Streamline Cloud Governance with Censornet CASB

Censornet Cloud Application Security (CASB) delivers a suite of advantages that bolster a business’s defence against both internal and external digital threats, ensuring the integrity and security of vital business data. It provides a transparent overview of cloud application usage, enabling enhanced monitoring and governance. This level of insight is pivotal in meeting stringent regulatory demands and managing data with precision and security.

Moreover, it consolidates various security needs into one platform, offering potential cost reductions by eliminating the need for multiple security solutions. The automation of security-related tasks and the streamlining of processes translate into heightened productivity, as employees can redirect their focus to primary business tasks. Additionally, the system’s inherent flexibility and scalability mean it can evolve with the business, accommodating growth and changes in cloud application usage. Ultimately, the integration of CASB’s features leads to a fortified cloud environment, aligning with industry standards and promoting safe, compliant operations.

How Does Censornet Handle Integration with Existing Security Solutions?

Censornet’s Cloud Application Security (CASB) is designed to integrate seamlessly with existing security solutions. It offers a unified security platform that can be combined with Email Security, Web Security, and Multi-Factor Authentication for centralized management. This integration provides businesses with a comprehensive security posture that covers various aspects of their IT environment.

Key integration features include:

• Unified Platform: A single web interface for central policy configuration, management, data visualisation, and reporting.
• Flexible Deployment: CASB can be deployed using agents or gateways, or both, catering to different organisational needs.
• API Mode: Connects with major cloud storage apps like Box, Dropbox, OneDrive to extend user activity visibility and scan for content changes.
• Intuitive User Interface: Simplifies the management of cloud app catalogues, showing actions and baseline risks within cloud storage apps.

By integrating CASB with other components of the Censornet platform, businesses can ensure a more robust defence against threats, maintain compliance, and secure their cloud applications effectively.

A Comprehensive Overview of CASB’s Reporting and Analytics Tools

Censornet’s Cloud Application Security Broker offers a powerful set of tools for businesses to keep an eye on and assess how well their cloud security is doing. It allows companies to get instant updates on how cloud applications are being used and if there are any security issues. The platform can show data in a very detailed and understandable way, and it can analyse information based on many different factors like time, user, and type of app. It also helps businesses make sure they’re following the law by tracking how sensitive data is moved and what users are doing. Plus, it can spot potential security threats and unusual user behaviour, which helps companies understand the risks they face and act quickly if something goes wrong. Essentially, these tools help businesses stay secure and handle any security problems efficiently.

What Features are Included in the Censornet CASB Pricing?

Unlike traditional security measures, Censornet offer a more nuanced approach tailored to the cloud’s unique challenges. While many CASB providers offer piecemeal solutions, often charging a premium for each feature, the comprehensive pricing model of Censornet stands out. It encompasses a full spectrum of functionalities at a single price point, providing businesses with the tools they need without the added financial burden of a la carte features. This approach not only simplifies the decision-making process but also ensures that organisations are equipped with a robust set of capabilities to safeguard their modern mobile workforce.

Here’s a summary of the key features included in the Censornet CASB pricing:

• Complete Visibility: Full visibility of all cloud applications used within the organisation.
• Control Cloud Application Use: Ability to control how cloud applications are used, including blocking access to certain features and actions within apps.
• Out-of-the-Box Rules and Policies: Predefined rules and policies that can be implemented quickly for immediate protection.
• Identity and Social Graphing: Anomaly detection through identity and social graphing to identify unusual behaviour.
• Cloud Data Security (DLP): Data Loss Prevention capabilities that allow for the analysis of files uploaded to cloud apps with templates for personal data, confidential content, PCI DSS, HIPAA, etc., or the creation of custom templates.
• Flexible Deployment: Options for deployment using agents, gateways, or both, with centralised policy management to protect office and mobile users.
• Mobile Apps API Mode: Visibility of user activity on mobile apps that use end-to-end encryption (SSL pinning).
• Extensive App Catalogue: Automated, continuous updates to a catalogue of hundreds of business applications and thousands of actions.

These features are meticulously designed to ensure that businesses can secure their cloud environments effectively, addressing the challenges of advanced malware, cloud data security, and insider threats.

These industries, among others, find CASB solutions like Censornet essential for managing cloud activities, ensuring security, and maintaining compliance with various regulatory standards.

When considering a Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) for your business, the conclusion is clear: CASBs offer a comprehensive security solution that is essential in today’s cloud-centric environment. They provide enhanced visibility and control over cloud applications, improve compliance with regulatory standards, and offer advanced threat protection. With features like real-time monitoring, data loss prevention, and anomaly detection, CASBs are invaluable for businesses looking to protect their data and infrastructure. They are particularly beneficial for industries with stringent data protection needs, such as healthcare, finance, and education. In summary, investing in a CASB like Censornet can lead to a more secure, efficient, and compliant organisational cloud environment.

It’s a strategic move that can safeguard your business against the evolving landscape of digital threats.

Looking to find out more? Why not join our CASB webinar, hosted by Trustco and Censornet. Click here to register.