Modern technology is constantly evolving to meet the needs and demands of the business world, which requires efficiency, collaboration and security at all times. While Software as a Service (SaaS) applications have played a crucial role in work production and collaboration capabilities, the benefits of cloud computing have further enhanced the user experience. However, the cloud has presented organizations with many new security challenges. As a result, organizations are required to prioritize protecting the most sensitive information within the cloud domain against a multitude of security threats, but this is not without its challenges.
The lack of a clearly defined boundary adds another layer of complexity to cloud application security. The trend of hybrid working and multi-cloud environments has broken this, removing all the oversight and control that security teams previously had when individuals worked from one location. Of course, the traditional security tools used in the past are now effectively outdated and unable to address these new challenges.
In their efforts to address the problem overall, some organizations have chosen to use a Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) to reduce cloud security risks. While this is certainly advisable, organizations must understand that choosing the right CASB for their environment is an equally important task. Ideally, organizations should follow recommended best practices to ensure data protection within SaaS applications.
Guideline #1: Understand the cloud ecosystem
The cloud landscape has changed dramatically in recent years and is constantly evolving. Ten years ago, companies used only a small number of cloud applications. Today, modern enterprises use hundreds of cloud apps, creating a need for a CASB product that can enforce policies across the entire network. But to effectively protect against cloud-based threats, it's important that organizations take the time to understand the landscape of their cloud environments. While SaaS applications typically take the spotlight, it's just as important to identify how data storage solutions like Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform are used. For this reason, the CASB solution should have capabilities that include protection for these repositories.
The news cycle is regularly filled with data breaches or leaks from cloud apps and data repositories due to misconfigurations. Therefore, the CASB must also have the capabilities to identify and remediate these misconfigurations to meet the organization's security standards.
Guideline #2: Do you have extensive visibility?
There are many ways cybercriminals can compromise sensitive data, especially since they are not limited to SaaS apps alone. In the modern era of remote and hybrid work, threat actors will look to leverage various unmanaged devices and apps used by employees, partners, and contractors to access corporate data.
When you decide to choose a CASB solution for the organization, make sure it can detect data exchanges in unapproved cloud apps, unmanaged devices, and email platforms. All three are valuable in promoting hybrid working and collaboration, but also pose some of the greatest risks to data security. Ultimately, the CASB solution must give the organization clear insight into users, apps and devices and how they interact with the data on the network.
Guideline #3: Embrace adaptive access
As a golden rule, cloud security should never hinder productivity, but rather facilitate it. When researching traditional access control solutions, it was common for solutions to compromise the protection of sensitive data to enable seamless access. Typically, access is granted to the user who has the correct credentials and without regard to whether the account has been compromised or the potential for insider threats. This method is very risky and should be avoided at all costs. Instead, organizations should implement a CASB solution that can intelligently determine who needs access, as this bridges the balance between security and productivity. Additionally, following an adaptive Zero-Trust approach to access control will grant access based on several factors, including device security and user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA). This advanced level of access security continuously assesses risk levels before determining whether access should be granted.
Guideline No. 4: Proactive data protection
The mindset towards cloud application security is still very reactive and unfortunately, most organizations will only make security a priority after an incident has occurred. Data is the most critical asset a company owns, so protecting it from cloud security threats must remain a top priority. Without data, companies cannot operate efficiently and provide the necessary service to their customers. That is why it is often described as the lifeblood. Therefore, organizations must take a proactive approach to securing sensitive data within the CASB through data loss prevention (DLP). This tool allows the CASB to enforce policies that ensure data security standards are met without impacting staff productivity. Additionally, a data-centric approach may include certain data security measures, such as redacting or masking sensitive information in a file, watermarking documents, or disabling downloads – which is more progressive than automatically denying access to documents. Additionally, it is critical that security teams have the ability to protect sensitive data as it extends to unmanaged applications and devices. Enterprise Digital Rights Management (EDRM) can be used to automatically encrypt data as it is transferred outside the company, ensuring sensitive information remains protected even outside your control.
As the adoption rate of cloud in the business world continues to increase, threats against cloud technology and the sensitive information contained within it will become increasingly common. Given the many data security and privacy regulations enforced, organizations and security teams have a duty and responsibility to ensure data is adequately protected. Failure to do so is considered an act of negligence punishable by heavy fines and penalties. Given that today's data is digital and moves without borders, it's time for organizations to take a proactive stance and implement security that moves with them. Investing in a suitable CASB solution is a step in the right direction and will help organizations ensure they protect data while reducing costs, increasing productivity, ensuring regulatory compliance, providing visibility and flexibility and reducing the risk of unauthorized reduce use or access.
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