CASB vs. SASE: What’s Best for You?

Can’t decide between CASB vs. SASE solutions? While CASB focuses on controlling access to cloud apps, SASE provides secure access to data and networks. Here’s how you can choose either of them.

SASE is a cloud-native security architecture with multiple security functions delivered as a single cloud-delivered service.

Your adversaries just won’t wait. Migrating to the cloud comes with costs, not just benefits. To succeed, you need to secure access between enterprise users and cloud service providers. One of the best ways to do that is by employing Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) solutions. If your goal is to protect your data, streamline compliance, and ensure policy enforcement, then you have to choose between CASB vs. SASE.

CASB is the umbrella technology for managing access to everything on the cloud. And SASE is the top-up you need to address vulnerabilities that arise from any gaps created by CASB solutions.

What is CASB?

Whether you work in retail, finance, healthcare, or any other industry vertical, a CASB solution can help your organization satisfy compliance requirements. When you compare CASB vs SASE, CASB stands out due to how it improves visibility for both managed and unmanaged cloud services. Cloud security is the core focus of any CASB service and it provides all-round data protection. You can use CASB to monitor cloud services in use, report cloud spending, and spot redundancies in licensing across the entire cloud estate.

CASB can help you safeguard against costly data breaches and ensure that data access doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. It prevents threat actors from propagating malware attacks via various attack surfaces. The scope of CASB goes beyond single-cloud environments and CASBs can secure both hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Some CASB vendors may offer their services as on-premise software or on-premise hardware appliances.

What are the key Features of CASB?

CASB can secure SaaS apps on the cloud and may be added to an organization’s technology stack. The biggest difference between CASB and SASE is that SASE is built on the foundation of CASB and it includes the features needed to protect mission-critical data. CASB can apply traditional perimeter-based protection models for cloud-based deployments.

By limiting data access and unauthorized transmissions, you can protect your organization from both internal and external cyber threats. CASB is also great at controlling cloud-based file-sharing activities and can monitor user activities in real time.

What is SASE?

A SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) is a platform that utilizes cloud-native architecture and offers a combination of various security services in the cloud. SASE can help you protect mission-critical data hosted in the enterprise. It will safeguard virtualized environments and optimize overall service performance and data availability.

Users can use SASE to quickly and easily access a wide variety of applications through a single pane of glass view. SASE can manage cloud security, WAN traffic, and incorporate additional tools like policy management solutions, advanced analytics, and unified threat management (UTM). If you can’t decide between CASB or SASE, it’s good to know that you can protect rapidly evolving networks of connected devices and servers with SASE solutions.

What are the key features of SASE?

SASE includes security features like Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), Secure Web Gateway (SWG), Firewall as a Service (FWaaS), and Software-Defined Wide-Area Network (SD-WAN). It delivers SASE networking and security-as-a-service functions as one single cloud service at the edge of the network.

It can also inspect traffic across all ports and protocols, and connect remote or hybrid cloud users to nearby cloud gateways. The main goal of SASE is to lower infrastructure intricacy and simplify security management. Dynamic security and bandwidth optimization are the key reasons why organizations need the SASE model.

Besides using artificial intelligence (AI) based machine learning techniques to detect threats, it also allows for full content inspection through dynamic firewalls. These are used for handling data streams for IoT devices and implementing secure protocol mechanisms.

4 Critical Differences between CASB vs SASE

When we compare CASB and SASE, it is important to note that both provide enterprise cloud and network security solutions. CASB and SASE differ in terms of security integrations; CASB can address legacy security vulnerabilities.

Here’s what you need to know about the critical differences between CASB vs. SASE:

1. Network Security vs Software as a Service

One of the biggest differences between SASE vs CASB is that CASB enforces security policies for cloud-based resources. It is usually located between users and cloud services and acts as a gateway that controls communication and access between them. SASE goes a step ahead and covers an enterprise’s wider security needs. It covers the entire gamut of security and network performance and cost optimization.

2. Architecture and Scope

CASB is commonly a proxy or agent-based solution that bridges users and cloud apps to log access, and control app usage based on their chosen policies. SASE will provide a cloud-native solution that can seamlessly integrate into existing infrastructure and security tools.

In the case of CASB vs. SASE, the latter is a more reliable, flexible, and scalable version of CASB security, but with added features and less configuration management.

3. Integrations

CASB is a part of the fully integrated security stack SASE has. General security features that CASB claims to offer are integrated into an optimized network routing system that is considered part of SD-WAN. This includes security features from next-generation firewalls and more.

The only striking difference between SASE and CASB is the extent of security integration that is available within the two solutions. CASB secures SaaS applications and is used as a value-added layer for the security stack where an organization has already invested in and deployed all other security solutions. SASE offers an integrated WAN networking and security solution that connects remote users and branches to cloud and corporate applications over the Internet.

4. Monitoring and Control

CASB specifically protects access to cloud services while SASE secures everything, including networks. SASE comes with access controls and secure access to all types of resources, both cloud-based and IT-based.  CASB is more specialized and provides special protection for cloud apps like Microsoft Office 365 and G-Suite. It helps ensure that these apps follow the latest compliance standards and do not violate any regulatory laws in the state. SASE provides a wider spectrum of capabilities when compared to just CASB vs. SASE.

CASB VS SASE: Key Differences

Feature	CASB (Cloud Access Security Broker)	SASE (Secure Access Service Edge)
Focus	Cloud-based applications and data only	Cloud-based resources and data, including SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS, and networking security
Security Functions	Cloud-based security monitoring, data encryption, DLP, etc	ZTNA, CASB, SWG, FW, etc. (multiple security functions combined)
Architecture	Agent-based or API-based integration with cloud apps	Cloud-native architecture, often delivered as a service
Scope	Limited to cloud-based applications and data	Broader scope, covering all cloud-based resources and data
Access Control	Focuses on application-level access control	Focuses on user and device-level access control, as well as application-level access control
Network Visibility	Limited network visibility	Complete network visibility and control

What are the Pros and Cons of CASB vs SASE?

If you can’t decide between CASB or SASE, you’ll be happy to hear that you can use both to strengthen your cloud security posture. They offer a holistic approach to security and protect cloud-based resources and network assets.

CASB will continuously secure access between CSPs, users, and control cloud services. SASE can consolidate networking and security functions into a single architecture.

Let’s explore the pros and cons of CASB and SASE below.

Pros and Cons of CASB

Pros of CASB:

• CASB can enforce various encryption and authentication mechanisms to protect SaaS apps on the cloud and prevent unauthorized access.
• It can analyze user activities and transactions across SaaS apps to safeguard against threats.
• CASB leverages User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) to identify malicious and suspicious cloud events.
• It can manage permissions associated with cloud users and applications.
• CASB tools also streamline regulatory compliances such as GDPR, HIPAA, NIST, and others.

Cons of CASB:

• It can add to the complexity of your security architecture as you integrate additional features; the costs can quickly pile up, especially when including tools from different vendors.
• CASB’s scope is limited to SaaS apps and it doesn’t extend protection to networks and other IT environments without the necessary integrations.
• It doesn’t address network performance issues and bandwidth optimization challenges.

Pros and Cons of SASE

Here are the pros and cons of SASE, for CASB and SASE.

Pros of SASE:

• Protects users and devices, closes security gaps, and secures everyone remotely.
• Reduces management overheads and total cost of ownership.
• Focuses on entity monitoring and dynamically allows or denies connections to appliances or services.
• Ensures low latency rates and secures online exchanges in real-time by optimizing said connections.
• Can control and predict user experiences for managed apps and infrastructure.
• Reduces any potential security risks faced in distributed multi-cloud environments.

Cons of SASE:

• SASE architecture is difficult to implement for startups and small-scale businesses when compared to CASB; it involves a substantial initial investment which may cross their current budgets.
• There is a risk of vendor lock-in and dependency when you sign up for these solutions. You cannot choose different technology solutions or switch between platforms easily once you commit.
• SASE is a relatively new technology which means it’s heavily unregulated. There are new SASE standards and practices that continue to develop that may be insecure or not compatible with many organizations.

When to choose between SASE vs CASB?

You can choose between CASB or SASE once you have a solid understanding of your enterprise security needs. SASE will give you deep visibility on the network security level while CASB is limited to SaaS apps and cloud-based resources. If you want only basic threat protection and want to improve your organization’s compliance status, then CASB is the right choice. It is also less expensive and doesn’t require much setup time or investment.

In CASB vs. SASE, SASE is more powerful, comprehensive, and will provide you with greater visibility and increased security coverage. You can choose SASE for CASB or SASE if you need to implement Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), Cloud Security Access Broker (CASB) services, and integrate software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) with firewalls across your organization.

Why Both SASE and CASB Benefit Your Organization?

They can both benefit your organization by adopting holistic security measures. The gaps that are left by CASB can be addressed by SASE and vice versa. SASE will enhance security for your remote workers while CASB can control access to various assets and cloud-based services. CASB and SASE can both work together to prevent and detect attacks such as malware, ransomware, phishing, social engineering, and other kinds of threats.

CASB can benefit your organization by:

• Adding visibility, control, and security over cloud data.
• Ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and protecting against data breaches.
• Enforcing security policies for cloud-based apps.
• Monitoring and detecting data exfiltration.

SASE can help your organization by:

• Providing secure, seamless access to cloud-based apps and resources.
• Protecting against threats and vulnerabilities.
• Enhancing user experience and productivity.
• Offers a single cloud-native security platform delivering secure access to applications, data, and networks anywhere with any device.

Conclusion

Most companies know that it can be hard to determine between CASB vs SASE, but they’ll have to choose one eventually. CASB can help you maintain standard security practices, policies, and compliance by enforcing strict cloud-based access security measures. SASE provides the security access capabilities of CASB tools, zero-trust security, and additional security measures. There is no limit to the scope of protection CASB and SASE can offer and they are highly scalable. Hopefully, our blog can help you decide between CASB vs SASE now.

FAQs

Can CASB replace SASE or vice versa?

You can’t go with either CASB vs. SASE; you need both for optimal scalability and enterprise agility. SASE will let you scale network loads and handle increasing demands. It will give your users the bandwidth needed to stay protected and secure remote work practices. In the case of CASB vs. SASE, SASE provides superior security features, constant alerts, and gives teams the power to mitigate advanced threats. CASB is incorporated with SASE solutions and doesn’t cover network security. That is why you cannot replace SASE with it as it’s an incomplete security solution.

Is CASB only for SaaS?

Not really. CASBs can work seamlessly with IaaS and PaaS environments. In CASB vs. SASE, CASB tools can go on to monitor and control access to cloud-based resources like storage, databases, and APIs, irrespective of the deployment model.

What is the difference between ZTNA vs SASE vs CASB?

ZTNA focuses on application access, while SASE and CASB secure access to cloud-based resources and data. ZTNA also identifies and verifies the security posture of devices on networks, before granting access to any permissions.

What are the 5 SASE components?

We can breakdown SASE security in CASB vs. SASE into five essential components and they are as follows:

1. Software-Defined Wide-Area Network (SD-WAN) – SD-WAN routes the best traffic routes for users on the internet. You can use SD-WAN to reduce the complexity of the SASE architecture and improve user experience. SD-WAN lets you rapidly deploy new apps, services, and manage policies across different locations.
2. Secure Web Payment Gateway (SWG) – SWG shields your employees from being infected with malware on their systems. You can use SWG to prevent unsecured internet traffic from invading the enterprise network. It works like a barrier and can block malicious websites, vulnerable pages, and all other types of cyber threats.
3. Firewall as a Service (FWaaS) – FWaaS replaces physical firewalls for your appliances with cloud-based ones; it employs advanced layer 7/NGFW capabilities, access controls like URL filtering, advanced threat protection, IPS, and DNS security.
4. Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) – “Never assume trust,” is the mantra of Zero Trust Network Access. When you give remote access to your users, it’s critical to implement the least privilege access principle and granular security policies. ZTNA will help you avoid exposing your apps and networks to the internet in unauthorized ways and block access attempts.
5. Centralized Management – In CASB vs. SASE, your SASE solution will offer centralized management. You will get a single console from where you can manage change controls. It will also help you enforce consistent security policies across your organization, coordinate actions, and prevent sudden operational outages.