What is a CASB?

Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASBs) are an essential piece of just about any enterprise IT stack. Here’s the definition from Gartner:

CASBs are on-premises, or cloud-based security policy enforcement points, placed between cloud service consumers and cloud service providers to combine and interject enterprise security policies as the cloud-based resources are accessed. CASBs consolidate multiple types of security policy enforcement. Example security policies include authentication, single sign-on, authorization, credential mapping, device profiling, encryption, tokenization, logging, alerting, malware detection/prevention and so on.

If I were sum that statement up, a CASB’s primary focus is on keeping your organization secure & compliant when employees are using cloud services. This has long been one of the major concerns from IT pros, sometimes slowing the move to the cloud. So, 100% understandable why a CASB is an essential piece of any cloud-forward organization’s cloud strategy.

Zylo is Not a CASB, but Can Work Hand in Hand with a CASB

We often are asked if Zylo is a CASB and why you might need both. I’m going to relate a company’s cloud stack to a mobile phone. On your phone, you have tools that are primarily built to keep your device secure and to understand how your family is using their phones. This includes:

• Your password/fingerprint/face recognition/retina scan to access the device
• MDM software from your company to limit exposure for what can be put on the device and remove data if it is lost or stolen
• Parental controls to limit time spent on devices
• Discovery tools to locate your device

You also have tools on your phone to manage & measure its use in order to optimize it:

• App Store to discover, purchase & review applications
• Notifications to provide you with alerts when key things occur
• Battery usage indicator by app
• Low power mode
• Management of storage by app
• Foldering of apps
• Parental controls to provide approval for your kids buying apps

A phone is a great way to relate, but your enterprise cloud stack is much bigger with a whole lot of additional factors, people and relationships to consider. Having a Cloud Management tool is as imperative as having a CASB. Working hand in hand with a CASB like SkyHigh, Palo Alto or Netskope, Zylo is able to give you the coverage you need to ensure you have top notch cloud strategy:

• Spend forecasting based on actual history
• Renewal management: Never get caught on your heels
• Vendor management: Establish a system of record for your cloud providers to get full visibility to everything you’re spending and using with each supplier as well as the contact information for the ever-changing team you work with from the vendor.
• Utilization visibility: See who has access and actual usage alongside app spend figures for each individual employee. Bonus: Licensing (actual usage numbers!) for your most strategic partners.
• Stack Optimization: Understand spend and use across a categorized compilation of all of your cloud apps to discover redundancies and areas of optimization.
• Employee Feedback: Initiate feedback surveys through email or Slack to ensure your employee’s voice is heard when making purchasing or renewal decisions

Using a platform like Zylo allows you to drive your cloud intelligence strategy when you pair cloud application spend, utilization and employee feedback.