{"id":39850,"date":"2021-03-04T17:00:04","date_gmt":"2021-03-04T17:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/security\/blog\/?p=92848"},"modified":"2021-03-04T17:00:04","modified_gmt":"2021-03-04T17:00:04","slug":"a-better-cloud-access-security-broker-securing-your-saas-cloud-apps-and-services-with-microsoft-cloud-app-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/a-better-cloud-access-security-broker-securing-your-saas-cloud-apps-and-services-with-microsoft-cloud-app-security\/","title":{"rendered":"A better cloud access security broker: Securing your SaaS cloud apps and services with Microsoft Cloud App Security"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s business uses an average of 1,180 cloud apps\u00b9, with many of those organizations securing their apps through cloud access security brokers (CASB). The organizational need for a CASB has grown alongside the use of cloud apps to enable remote work and greater user productivity. When security responsibilities for cloud apps are shared between you and the cloud application or cloud provider, there\u2019s a chance that some key security practices may be overlooked.<\/p>\n

Beyond the areas where your IT team or the platform provider are responsible for security, some SaaS apps and services may fall into an unprotected gray zone. According to the shared responsibility model<\/a>, IT teams are responsible for securing their organizations\u2019 identity and access management (IAM), network resources, endpoints, devices, passwords, and more. But there\u2019s currently not much clear guidance around SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM). That\u2019s where the right CASB can make the difference.<\/p>\n

How the right CASB can help<\/h2>\n

A CASB is designed to analyze session traffic to and from the cloud, as well as highlight risks and block inappropriate access. With so many people now working remotely on personal devices, a CASB helps ensure that users accessing your cloud apps (having been properly authenticated by your identity provider) have the rights and permissions to use the selected app\u2014provided it\u2019s from an allowed device, and the session adheres to any other policy conditions defined by your organization.<\/p>\n

To accomplish all this, a CASB usually provides three primary services\u2014app discovery and management, secure access to all your apps, data protection, and threat protection. App discovery tells you which cloud apps the employees in your organization are accessing and helps you decide how to manage those apps. Data protection ensures that your people aren\u2019t accessing, using, and sharing sensitive data, and threat protection helps defend against inappropriate use of applications through malware, ransomware, or other threats.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

For a large healthcare organization such as St. Luke\u2019s<\/a>, adopting Microsoft Cloud App Security<\/a> enabled them to allow or block apps based on compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and reduce the possibility of leaked patient data.<\/p>\n

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\u201cOne of our challenges prior to deploying Cloud App Security was detecting <\/span><\/span>shadow IT<\/span><\/span><\/a>,\u201d said Erin Boris, Information Security Strategic Specialist at SLUHN. \u201cGaining that visibility through Cloud App Security helps us with software inventory, app rationalization, and most importantly, data loss prevention.\u201d <\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Bridging the gap<\/h2>\n

SaaS Security Posture Management<\/a> is a solution category that is part of the broader security posture management umbrella of features, specifically protecting SaaS products such as Office 365<\/a>, Google Workspace, or Salesforce.<\/p>\n

Gartner included SaaS Security Posture Management in the 2020 Gartner Hype Cycle for Cloud Security<\/a>, defining SaaS Security Posture Management as \u201ctools that continuously assess the security risk and manage the security posture of SaaS applications\u2014offering suggestions for improved configuration to reduce risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

A CASB should help your team discover all SaaS apps within its purview, then determine which are shadow IT (a potential attack surface and a vector for malware). SaaS Security Posture Management takes it one step further to identify the abuse of these apps, identify misconfigurations, track configuration changes, and deploy automatic remediation to prevent data leakage and damage. SaaS Security Posture Management also covers SaaS storage, file sharing, and collaboration apps, which can be sources of data leakage.<\/p>\n

The Microsoft Cloud App Security difference<\/h2>\n

Microsoft Cloud App Security helps secure all your cloud apps using sophisticated analytics to combat cyber threats across both cloud-native and on-premises apps and services, Microsoft and non-Microsoft alike. Recognized as a Leader in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud Access Security Brokers<\/a>2<\/sup>, Cloud App Security addressed key features this way:<\/p>\n