Cloud spending in government is reaching an all-time high, expecting to reach $9.1B by 2024. While agencies are eager to reduce their infrastructure footprint, lower overall operational costs and more nimbly support technology users by moving to the cloud, they often hesitate due to perceived loss of control over access to their data, and what that means for security.
For federal civilian, defense and intelligence agencies, control over their systems and information is critical. Hosting a great deal of sensitive information that could put citizens at risk or endanger warfighters when in the wrong hands, agencies need control over security processes and complete awareness of their data at all times. Cloud providers have made significant strides to improve security, but in many cases still lack visibility and the ability to seamlessly connect an organization’s security guidelines across all applications.
Cloud access security brokers (CASBs) can connect security guidelines and offer visibility. Between on premises and cloud infrastructure, CASBs can apply an organization’s security policies consistently and provide the visibility and data security necessary to help agencies feel secure in their cloud investments.
When it comes to visibility, CASBs look at important information that hosted cloud environments often don’t offer, including user activity, unauthorized information sharing and use of applications in the cloud to monitor and ensure activities are appropriate and secure. If an incident occurs that raises concern, CASBs can identify the anomalies and alert analysts. Many times they also offer comprehensive reporting with audit logs, compliance reports and more.
CASBs also give agencies greater control over security policies, even across varied cloud environments. Cloud providers typically provide encryption, but controlled by their own encryption keys, limiting control for the agency. CASBs also allow organizations to own encryption keys, giving agencies greater control and alleviating the potential for inappropriate access coming from the cloud provider.
All organizations that utilize multiple cloud applications and infrastructures still aim to create a user-friendly experience, though this complexity often requires users to log in and out of various systems and remember a multitude of passwords. CASBs can solve these identity challenges by leveraging a common identity across all of an organization’s cloud applications. This enhances efficiency by eliminating time spent logging in and out or tracking down forgotten passwords. At the same time, CASBs allow agencies to define access controls as appropriate, meaning access is easier for the right users, but nonexistent for bad actors.
CASBs help bridge important gaps that will continue to increase government’s investment in cloud solutions and as a result continue to boost efficiency for agencies. Solutions like Cisco Cloudlock and McAfee Sky High can provide CASBs capabilities that will enable agencies to appreciate the benefits of the cloud without loss of control. Iron Bow is uniquely positioned to help agencies identify the best cloud broker solution for their needs.
To learn more, visit the Iron Bow Technologies website.
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