Cloud Security Alliance’s CASB Survey Finds Nearly 70% House Their Most Sensitive Data in Microsoft SharePoint Online/OneDrive

By Tim Choi, Director of Product Marketing for Proofpoint

COVID-19 changed everything overnight. The traditional perimeter is gone and the things that were planned years in the future—like cloud migration—had to be fast tracked. Immediately.

This sudden shift is the latest evidence that organizations need an effective, safe way to ensure employees have access to sensitive data across hundreds of cloud applications so they can continue to be productive and compliant despite pandemic-related disruptions. Enter the cloud access security broker (CASB), which provides an additional nessecary layer of security between users and cloud services to help ensure safe use across Microsoft 365, Google G Suite, Box, and more.

According to a report just issued by the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), 83% of more than 200 IT and security professionals surveyed agreed that security in the cloud as a top project for improvement. That said, while nearly 90% are either already using or researching the use of a CASB, half (50 percent) lack staffing to fully utilize cloud security solutions. To address this gap, it’s vital that organizations look for a solution that is part of a larger security portfolio and can effectively address the people-centric cloud security concerns on cloud account compromise, cloud data loss prevention, and cloud application compliance and visibility.

Additionally, the report found the following regarding CASB utilizations:

• 69% of survey respondents house their most sensitive data within Microsoft SharePoint Online / OneDrive (84% of respondents selected more than one location)
• 55% use CASB to monitor user behaviors, while 53% use it to gain visibility into unauthorized access
• Only 38% of respondents use multi-factor authentication for cloud apps and 55% of respondents use multifactor authentication provided by their identity provider as opposed to a standalone product in the cloud (20%)
• 38% of enterprises rely on CASB for regulatory compliance while just 22% use it for internal compliance

Successful CASB deployments need to start with clear, measurable goals in mind and prioritized objectives. Any rollout must be operationalized in hours, not weeks, to ensure faster time to value. And it’s essential that organizations worldwide can quickly address key cloud security concerns, help prevent people-centric threats in the cloud, while also monitoring and governing how individuals share data in the cloud.

To download Cloud Security Alliance’s The Evolution of the CASB report, please visit: https://www.proofpoint.com/us/resources/e-books/evolution-of-the-casb and to download a copy of our Getting Started with CASB eBook, please visit: https://www.proofpoint.com/us/resources/white-papers/getting-started-with-casb.