Using cloud technology can lead to reduced technology costs, but there’s often hesitation to use cloud because of concerns about information security. That’s no surprise, given the cost of a data breach: direct financial costs can reach millions of dollars, and that’s in addition to the impact of a damaged reputation and lost future business.
The threat of a breach exists even when you contain all your information technology resources in an on-premises data center, with the same costs. In fact, the threat of a breach may be bigger in a corporate data center than in the cloud; cloud providers have large teams of experts fully focused on security, which most businesses can’t match. Those teams can ensure systems are kept patched and in compliance with industry standards.
The existence of the cloud provider’s security team doesn’t mean you don’t need to take your own steps to protect data in the cloud, just as you do when data is on-site. While the cloud provider handles physical security and applies patches, you still own your data and retain the responsibility for its security, including configurations and user management. A Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) provides cloud-centric data controls that reduce the risks of data loss in the cloud.
CASB Functionality and Benefits
A CASB serves as an intermediary between users and your data in the cloud, helping prevent data leaks and unauthorized usage of data in the cloud. CASBs allow you to define and enforce security policies regarding data usage. Smart CASBs can even discover the cloud services you don’t know your employees are using—shadow IT—and enforce appropriate controls.
By using a CASB, you can achieve fine-grained control over data access in the cloud; you can limit which data can be sent to cloud, who can access it in the cloud, and how it can be shared. You reduce the risks of unauthorized access by both external and internal users. CASBs help you discover where sensitive data resides and help you ensure controls such as encryption are used to protect it. With a CASB, you can ensure that corporate data resides within the corporation and isn’t made externally available.
Because CASBs focus on protecting access to data, your data can be protected wherever it resides, making CASBs a cost-effective information security strategy. Contact VAST IT Services to learn more about why a CASB should be part of your approach to achieving cloud security.
