During the COVID-19 pandemic, cloud technology has become indispensable. It’s helped remote employees stay connected to their work, colleagues, and customers.
The cloud adoption phase has been happening over the last decade. Companies are now at the next phase. This is streamlining and securing their cloud infrastructure.
By 2020, it’s estimated that 73% of businesses will have all their systems cloud based.
One of the tendencies of businesses is to rely on the cloud providers for just about everything. This includes application security. While cloud solution providers may offer features like encryption, they have limitations.
For example, say you’re applying document security policies within Microsoft 365. How do you ensure those policies remain intact when data travels? What happens to a shared file in a different cloud app, like Dropbox?
Gaining control over your cloud applications is what Microsoft Cloud App Security enables. With so much riding on the cloud, now is a perfect time to explore better cloud security.
What is Microsoft Cloud App Security?
Microsoft Cloud App Security is a multimode Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB). It creates a “command central” for controlling many aspects of all your cloud services.
This control includes things like:
- Sophisticated analytics
- Ability to control access centrally
- Ability to apply companywide security policies
- Visibility into cyberthreats across cloud services
- Control over data travel between apps
Instead of being at the mercy of the security features of any single cloud app, you’re in control. You can dictate how secure your apps are according to your corporate policies.
Why Do We Need Cloud App Security?
One thing that’s become very clear during the pandemic, is that remote working is here to stay. The ability to run a business from any location is a big factor for companies to offer telecommuting. It also offers cost-savings and productivity improvement.
For a remote workforce to remain secure and effective, companies need to secure their cloud solutions.
38% of surveyed companies have suffered a security incident as a result of a remote worker.
Here are several reasons to use Microsoft Cloud App Security.
Reduce the Risk of Shadow IT
Employees will sometimes use applications for work that aren’t approved by your company. When this happens, it’s considered a use of “Shadow IT.”
These unauthorized apps could have serious security issues. Issues that put your company data at risk.
Microsoft Cloud App Security alerts you if it detects the use of unauthorized apps. It can detect apps both in and beyond the corporate network. This alert system allows you to address them before they become a problem.
Secure Remote Connections
One of the biggest challenges of a remote and mobile workforce is access management. When you have users signing into your business apps, it’s easy for a hacker to take advantage and gain access.
A Cloud Access Security Broker allows you to maintain strict identity and access management. And maintain it across all applications to fortify your defense against account compromise.
Assess Compliance of Cloud Applications
A cloud application may be easy to use, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to support your compliance needs.
Microsoft Cloud App Security evaluates your applications for compliance. It taps a catalog of over 16,000 cloud apps. It also leverages more than 70 different security and compliance standards. This allows the platform to provide you with a risk score for each of your apps.
Protect Data When It Travels
How can you ensure that document security applied in a cloud app travels. What happens when that file transfers to a different app?
For example: Say that you use a sensitivity label in Microsoft 365. It adds a “do not copy” restriction on an Excel spreadsheet. When sharing the spreadsheet in an app like Salesforce, you need it to keep that restriction.
This is a key feature of Cloud App Security. It allows your protections to stay with a document. This is true even if a particular app doesn’t natively support a certain tagging feature.
Wherever data travels in your cloud applications, you’ll be able to monitor it. see when its shared in risky environments and take necessary protective steps.
Built-In Protection Against Cyberthreats
Trying to monitor multiple cloud apps from several dashboards is time-consuming. It’s also easy to miss something because each interface will be different.
Consolidating your cloud security improves your ability to protect your digital assets. Microsoft Cloud App Security uses advanced threat intelligence. This includes looking for anomalies that suggest a compromise. Proactive monitoring helps you stop threats right away.
Learn More About Cloud Protection from ZZ Servers
Our cloud experts at ZZ Servers can help your Norfolk-Chesapeake area business get a handle on cloud security before it gets away from you.
Contact us today to schedule a free consultation. Call 800-796-3574 or reach out online.
