Cloud Access Security Broker

A Cloud Access Security Broker, commonly abbreviated as CASB, is a security tool or service that sits between a company's employees and the cloud applications they use, enforcing security policies and providing visibility into how cloud services are being accessed and used across the organization. As companies increasingly rely on cloud-based software for everything from file storage to communication and business operations, CASBs have become an important part of maintaining security oversight in this distributed environment. CASBs typically provide several core functions, including monitoring for unauthorized or risky cloud application usage, sometimes referred to as shadow IT, enforcing data loss prevention policies to prevent sensitive information from being improperly shared, and providing threat detection capabilities to identify unusual or potentially malicious activity within cloud environments. This visibility is particularly valuable for IT and security teams who need to maintain oversight even as employees adopt a growing number of cloud tools. For companies with distributed or remote teams accessing company systems from various locations and devices, a CASB can be an especially important layer of security, helping to ensure that sensitive company and customer data remains protected regardless of where an employee is working from or what device they are using to access cloud-based systems.