Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)
The shift to cloud and adoption of Software as a Service (SaaS) services, has enabled enterprises to offload the burden of managing and delivering them by themselves. It has also, however, exposed a new and particularly risky attack surface. Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) solutions play a pivotal role in helping enterprises cope with these risks and fortifying their security posture. They do this by providing visibility, assessment, access control and protection capabilities which enable enterprises to better understand and manage their organization’s SaaS usage.
The first challenge of cloud-based SaaS usage is understanding its full extent. While some applications have been procured and provided by the IT team itself, also referred to as sanctioned applications, many SaaS applications are being adopted and used by employees without the IT department’s approval and knowledge. These are unsanctioned applications, and their usage constitutes what is known as Shadow IT. Various studies have shown that the number of unsanctioned applications used in a typical enterprise far exceeds that of sanctioned applications.
The second challenge is understanding the risk each unsanctioned application poses and making decisions regarding its permitted usage. The enforcement of these usage permissions is achieved via the CASB policy rules.
Lastly, is the need to put in place threat prevention and data leak protection mechanisms to ensure the protection and integrity of enterprise users, resources, and data.
Cato CASB, part of the Cato SASE Cloud
Cato’s CASB solution is an integral service of the Cato SASE Cloud. This means enterprises using Cato can enable CASB with a mere flip of a switch. Since the enterprise network traffic is already processed by Cato’s SASE Cloud, adding the CASB functionality doesn’t require any client installations or network changes. Cato’s single-pass architecture ensures the CASB functionality adds minimal latency to the overall processing time. It also enriches the CASB with additional user, device, and application information to enable more insightful visibility and more granular access control rules.
Cato’s CASB enables enterprises a comprehensive view of their SaaS usage via a Shadow IT dashboard, which provides high-level statistics as well as application specific data. Application risk assessment is evaluated using Cato’s unique Application Credibility Engine (ACE) which collects information regarding the application’s purpose, publisher, security, and compliance. It then calculates a risk score which can be used to determine the most suitable access policy. Cato’s CASB supports highly granular access policies, enforced inline in real-time. This level of granularity will warrant an out-of-path API approach in many competing solutions.
Gain more insight into Cato’s CASB solution.
Stand-alone CASB solutions vs. Cato’s SASE Cloud
Stand Alone CASB
Stand Alone CASB
Cato CASB
Cato CASB
Onboarding
Stand Alone CASB
Long and complicated
A CASB project requires network mapping and planning to ensure all use-cases are covered. The deployment process requires deployment of PAC files and agents. On average, a learning period of up to 2 months is needed before the solution becomes effective.
Cato CASB
Fast and simple
No planning, network changes, deployments or configurations are needed to enable Cato’s CASB. Once enabled it becomes immediately functional with no additional learning period needed.
Inspection context breadth
Stand Alone CASB
Partial
A stand-alone CASB solution will typically be limited to its own internal insight.
Cato CASB
Complete
Being part of a full SASE service, Cato’s CASB has a rich insight from other network and network security features when defining and enforcing SaaS usage.
Application coverage
Stand Alone CASB
Limited
Typically supports SaaS only with limited IaaS capability.
Cato CASB
Wide
Full coverage of SaaS, IaaS and WAN use cases.
Inline enforcement granularity
Stand Alone CASB
Low
Typically low in in-line mode. Higher granularity enforcement usually requires using APIs in out-of-band mode, which means no real-time prevention is possible.
Cato CASB
High
Cato’s CASB enables highly granular rules in inline mode.
Stand Alone CASB
Cato CASB
Onboarding
Long and complicated
A CASB project requires network mapping and planning to ensure all use-cases are covered. The deployment process requires deployment of PAC files and agents. On average, a learning period of up to 2 months is needed before the solution becomes effective.
Fast and simple
No planning, network changes, deployments or configurations are needed to enable Cato’s CASB. Once enabled it becomes immediately functional with no additional learning period needed.
Inspection context breadth
Partial
A stand-alone CASB solution will typically be limited to its own internal insight.
Complete
Being part of a full SASE service, Cato’s CASB has a rich insight from other network and network security features when defining and enforcing SaaS usage.
Application coverage
Limited
Typically supports SaaS only with limited IaaS capability.
Wide
Full coverage of SaaS, IaaS and WAN use cases.
Inline enforcement granularity
Low
Typically low in in-line mode. Higher granularity enforcement usually requires using APIs in out-of-band mode, which means no real-time prevention is possible.
High
Cato’s CASB enables highly granular rules in inline mode.