Security vendor Skyhigh Networks debuted new Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) capabilities on Feb. 7, extending security protections to Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platforms as well as custom application deployments in the cloud.
The CASB technology developed by Skyhigh was originally focused largely on Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), providing access control and security for popular services including Office 365, Salesforce and Dropbox. Now Skyhigh is opening up further, enabling organizations to protect any application running on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure or the Google Cloud Platform.
While there is a growing trend for organizations to make use of SaaS applications, there are still many organizations that deploy their own custom code for mission critical applications.
“What’s missing for many organizations is the CASB control point for data that is being stored in custom applications, that they might want to move to Amazon, Azure or Google Cloud,” Rajiv Gupta, CEO of Skyhigh Networks told eWEEK.
Skyhigh’s CASB platform goes beyond just providing enterprise access control for the cloud, to also helping secure sensitive information. For example, the Skyhigh system can detect when credit card information is input into a comment field in a customer service application, which is a potential security violation.
From a deployment perspective, Skyhigh can be configured as an inline proxy that will monitor for potentially sensitive information. Additionally the system can be integrated with an application’s API for directly integrated access.
“We’re enabling enterprises to enforce CASB policies without the need for developers to write a single line of code,” Gupta said. “So an organization can now take a legacy application, put a Skyhigh CASB in front of it and have security policies enforced on it, whether the application is in a private data center or in the cloud.”
In building its capabilities for SaaS providers, Skyhigh developed internal tools to understand sensitive information and security requirements. Gupta explained that the same tools are now being extended for enterprise custom applications. He added that with machine learning and artificial intelligence, Skyhigh can infer and determine what controls need to be applied to any application.
The market for CASB technologies has become increasingly competitive in recent years, with multiple startup companies getting acquired. Oracle acquired CASB vendor Palerra in September 2016 while Cisco acquired CASB vendor CloudLock for $293 million in June 2016.
“Even before this new custom application release we were differentiated from our competitors and now we’re aiming to extend our lead,” Gupta said.
Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at eWEEK and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.