The most critical CASB use cases in the market

Apply encryption based on conditional factors.


Johannesburg, 19 Apr 2017

There are three massive trends that are on a collision course: Enterprises' migration of business-critical systems to the cloud, introduction of new (or sharpening of existing) legislation protecting users' personal information, and hackers' targeting of the cloud for propagating malware, executing hacks, and perpetrating hold-ups

"To protect their most valuable assets, enterprise IT is increasingly turning to cloud access security brokers (CASB) to help them protect regulated data, valuable intellectual property, and confidential business information in cloud services" says Sean Glansbeek, CEO Private Protocol.

To be effective, a comprehensive cloud data protection strategy should include strong encryption. But for that encryption to be effective, it needs to be applied thoughtfully and not to all data, but rather the most sensitive data and in consideration of performance and usability tradeoffs. Additionally, strong encryption should be applied in an enterprise way, with key management choices that include integration with an organisation's on-premises key manager and at least FIPS 140-2-certified HSM.

Netskope customers protect sensitive data in the cloud by using their CASB to encrypt sensitive data using a strong cipher such as AES 256, and do so selectively based on conditional factors such as who, what, when, and where of the cloud transaction, as well as by integrating with their existing key manager. They have deployed Netskope's all-mode architecture to enable this critical use case. We have noted 15 of these use cases in their recent e-book, The 15 Critical CASB Use Cases, and we're highlighting them and more in this blog. Content sponsored by Scott Hogrefe, Vice President, Marketing at Netskope.

Here's use case #14: Apply encryption based on conditional factors.

How can a CASB enable this use case? A CASB sits in between the user and the cloud service provider and monitors usage, secures data, and guards against threats. In the case of applying strong encryption in context, the CASB must be able to discern contextual information about the transaction. For example, it should know who is transacting, what group they're in, where they are located physically, what activity they're performing in what service and to what data, and whether that data is sensitive. For example, a user in HR uploading a cat video isn't the same as an 'insider' uploading a PowerPoint document entitled 'Acquisition Priorities' that triggers a 'confidential data' DLP violation.

This use case can be achieved with the CASB deployed as a forward proxy, reverse proxy, and - in a limited way - using the cloud service's API. To apply this policy to all traffic, including that emanating from sync clients and native and mobile apps, even in unsanctioned cloud services, your CASB needs to be deployed as a forward proxy (and if remote, with a thin agent or mobile profiles). For browser-based traffic to sanctioned services only and mobile traffic limited to a limited set (like Salesforce1), you can handle this use case with a reverse proxy. Finally, if you don't mind the encryption not happening inline, but after upload, you can use the API deployment.

Beyond deployment choices, here are five critical functional requirements that are needed to achieve this use case:

* Be aware of context, e.g., activities such as "upload".
* See and control usage in both sanctioned and unsanctioned services.
* Apply strong encryption to sensitive content with key management.
* Integrate with KMIP-compliant, on-premises key manager.
* Decrypt SSL and decode the unpublished API to understand the transaction (for forward proxy).

Learn more about this and 14 additional most impactful use cases by downloading The 15 Critical CASB Use Cases.

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Netskope

Netskope is the leader in cloud security. Using patented technology, Netskope's cloud-scale security platform provides context-aware governance of all cloud usage in the enterprise in real-time, whether accessed from the corporate network, remote, or from a mobile device. This means that security professionals can understand risky activities, protect sensitive data, stop online threats, and respond to incidents in a way that fits how people work today. With granular security policies, the most advanced cloud DLP, and unmatched breadth of workflows, Netskope is trusted by the largest companies in the world. Netskope - cloud with confidence. To learn more, visit its Web site.

Private Protocol

Private Protocol is a data security provider offering solutions and strategies that cover mobile device and information security, secure data collaboration, secure messaging, SharePoint/O365 security and compliance, data classification, file share security and compliance, web content compliance, data leakage prevention, endpoint security and cloud security. Private Protocol also offer data risk assessments so companies can understand where their data resides, where their data is going, who is using it and what devices are connecting to the network. Private Protocol cover Africa and Indian Ocean Islands and also have a distributed partner channel.

Contact:
Private Protocol
Web site - www.privateprotocol.com
E-mail - sales@privateprotocol.com
Contact - +27 11 801-9480

Editorial contacts

Sean Glansbeek
Private Protocol
(+27) 82 896 8637
seang@privateprotocol.com