What are the essential features of a cloud access security broker (CASB)?

3 What are the essential features of a CASB?

A CASB can offer a range of features and capabilities, depending on your needs and preferences. However, some essential features you should look for include cloud discovery, cloud governance, cloud protection, and cloud encryption. Cloud discovery should be able to discover and categorize all cloud applications and services accessed by users, both sanctioned and unsanctioned. It should also assess the risk level and compliance status of each cloud application and service, as well as provide recommendations on how to manage them. Cloud governance should be able to enforce security policies and rules across cloud applications and services, based on user roles, groups, locations, devices, and actions. Furthermore, it should support different deployment modes such as proxy, API, or hybrid for flexibility and scalability. For cloud protection, a CASB should be able to detect and prevent any malicious or anomalous activity in your cloud environment using advanced techniques such as machine learning or threat intelligence. It should also provide alerts and notifications in case of a breach or incident. Lastly, cloud encryption should be able to encrypt data at rest and in transit with strong encryption algorithms that you control. It should also preserve the functionality of your cloud applications while encrypting your data.

4 How to choose a CASB?

Choosing a CASB can be a complex and challenging task, as there are many factors and criteria to consider. To ensure you make the best decision, it's important to define your goals and requirements first. Consider the features and functions that will support your cloud security and compliance objectives, as well as budget, resources, and timeline for implementation. After researching and comparing different CASB vendors and solutions, you should request a demo or trial of the solutions you're interested in, to test them in your own cloud environment. Evaluate how well they meet your expectations, how easy they are to use and integrate, and how reliable and secure they are. Then you should negotiate the best deal with the selected vendor, finalize the contract and implementation plan, and ensure that you have necessary support and training from them.

5 How to use a CASB?

Using a CASB can help you enhance your cloud security and compliance posture, but some planning and preparation is required. You should align your CASB with your cloud strategy, ensuring it supports your vision and is in line with business goals. Educating users and stakeholders on the value of a CASB and how to use it is also important. Additionally, you should monitor and measure its performance, tracking metrics relevant to your organization and using feedback from users and the CASB vendor to identify any issues or gaps.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?