SSE vs. CASB: 9 Critical Differences

Learn how you can take your cloud and network protection to the next level. The debate between SSE vs. CASB is always ongoing and we’ll shed light on the critical differences between these two today.

The rise of remote work models has transformed the way we look at cloud security services. Security Service Edge (SSE) and Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) are two vital components of any robust cloud security architecture. Traditional perimeter defenses don’t work, so it’s important to employ these solutions and understand the differences between them.

Your network and cloud security access fabric needs to be built on a foundation of zero-trust security. On a broader scope, SSE solves many of the challenges organizations face regarding remote work, secure edge computing, and digital transformation. The SSE market is poised to grow at a CAGR of 25.4% from 2023 to 2028. With many new SSE products coming out, organizations can expect to get access to exclusive features like micro-segmentation, enhanced data protection, adaptive access controls, and more.

The demand for CASB tools will go up as Secure Web Gateways (SWG) and Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) solutions proliferate the cloud industry segment. We can expect rapid growth to take place in regions such as North America, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America.

So, how do you know if SSE vs CASB is right for you? We’re here to find that out.

What is SSE?

Gartner introduced SSE to the cloud security community as a security service component of its SASE service. SSE is an umbrella term that consists of the following technologies: Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS), Secure Web Gateway (SWG), Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), and Zero-Trust Network Access (ZTNA), SD-WAN the networking component of SSE vs CASB, and the best SSE tools are used to protect mission-critical data and safeguard sensitive cloud-hosted information.

What are the key features of SSE?

SSE differs from traditional network security in the aspect that it protects user-to-app connections regardless of location. It delivers all security services in a unified way to reduce risks and eliminate gaps found between point products. As more and more remote workers connect to the public internet, there is a need for corporate WANs to transmit data securely.

SD-WAN is a core component of each SSE solution; it provides efficient connectivity and optimizes the user-to-application experience.

Here are the key features of SSE:

1. ZTNA in SSE can control user and device access to applications and authenticate it. SSE combines physical and cloud-based ZTNA services and enforces the best security access policies, whether devices and users are located on-premises or off-premises.
2. SSE can secure unrestricted traffic flowing into your organization and vet it. It can apply strong network access controls and application access policies. Companies will be able to secure their private resources when they use SSE vs CASB solutions and not worry about suddenly getting hijacked or breached.
3. SSE can provide comprehensive visibility into your cloud organization and deliver reporting, logging, and analytics capabilities. It can interoperate hybrid cloud environments with on-premises management. Businesses can ensure secure policy enforcement, consistent orchestration, and keep both users and applications safe.
4. SSE can reduce the expansion of evolving attack surfaces and the creation of new network edges. It converges networking and cloud security with AI-powered defenses which enables organizations to enjoy higher productivity and deliver better user experiences.
5. In CASB vs SSE, Your SSE solution can seamlessly manage your SASE deployments and provides integrated security across all your applications, users, and devices. It can provide a single management console that consolidates all security and networking features.
6. SSE can enhance organizational performance by optimizing the flow of traffic and cutting costs by reducing the need to manage multiple vendors.

What is CASB?

Cloud Security Access Broker or CASB is a collection of different security technologies that help keep your cloud services safe. A Cloud Security Access Broker can guard against cyber attacks and protect sensitive data hosted on the cloud. Your CASB vendor will offer its service as cloud-hosted software or it can take the form of on-premise hardware appliances or on-premise software.

What are the key features of CASB?

Here are the key features of CASB that make it ideal for modern enterprise security:

1. CASB will prevent sensitive data from ever leaving your company. It will improve visibility by documenting all your workflows and services. You will never need to worry about experiencing any unknown security risks and know what’s going on inside your existing infrastructure. CASB can also protect your organization from internal and external attacks, and stop data leaks.
2. SSE and CASB solutions can provide features like URL filtering, packet inspection, and browser isolation to help block cyber attacks. The key CASB technologies are – cloud access controls, shadow IT discovery, and data loss prevention (DLP) technology solutions.
3. CASBs can offer real-time cloud surveillance and control access to cloud accounts and services. It will keep your infrastructure safe by verifying identities and audit inactive or unused accounts. You will learn who has access to what and be able to remove unwanted privileges.
4. CASB can help store and process your data in a way that helps you achieve continuous regulatory compliance. Sometimes the ways companies let their users access and use data are illegitimate. CASB implements checks on all these instances by using strong data access controls. It can help companies comply with the laws of certain industries, regions, and regulations.
5. You can talk to your CASB vendor to extend the functionalities of many CASB services. SSE and CASB vendors can partner with other security companies to provide additional services, as per your unique business requirements.

4 Critical Differences between SSE vs CASB

Here are four critical differences between SSE and CASB:

#1. SSE vs CASB: Access and Connectivity

CASB is only concerned with cloud-specific security and controls access to who can get into what and vice versa. SSE is a part of the SASE architecture and it focuses on a broader scope, including network-centric security. A CASB solution will secure cloud resources but cannot secure network components. This is where SSE comes in by ensuring seamless connectivity, security, and visibility across all network endpoints.

#2. SSE vs CASB: Visibility and Configuration

WAN optimization is mandatory for dealing with increasing data volumes and SSE can use automation to select and configure the best connectivity options. SSE and WAN Edge together make up SASE.

SSE ensures consistent, flexible security that delivers threat protection across any edge. It can optimize business performance by optimizing cloud availability.  A CASB can help you reduce the complexity of your infrastructure by reducing workloads and securing access to different services from different locations. CASB can implement granular controls and provide deep visibility. SSE can secure your remote network connections and deliver secure access to disparate workforces.  You can also manage your WAN traffic using a single-pane-of-glass view with SSE.

#3. SSE vs CASB: Core Focus

CASB is majorly oriented to protecting cloud applications, data, and users; it caters to cloud-based SaaS apps too like Office 365, Google Workspace, and Salesforce. SSE vs CASB focuses on securing cloud-based services, such as SaaS, IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), and PaaS (Platform as a Service), as well as on-premises and hybrid environments.

CASB can also narrow down its protection and focus on a specific set of cloud applications. SSE covers multiple cloud services and extends its protection to networks, on-premises, and hybrid cloud environments.

#4. SSE vs CASB: Technology, Architecture, and Deployment

CASB uses a collection of technologies which are – threat protection, data and governance, cloud application discovery and monitoring, and data loss prevention (DLP). SSE uses a mix of technologies such as cloud security gateways, secure web gateways (SWG), cloud workload protection platforms (CWPP), cloud network security (CNS), and zero-trust network access (ZTNA).

If you compare SSE vs CASB architecture, we learn that CASB uses proxy-based or agent-based solutions. It sits between the user and the cloud app. In the context of SSE and CASB, SSE implementation may be as a cloud-based service, a virtual appliance, or a software agent. CASB, in most cases, is deployed as a cloud-based service, although minimal infrastructure on-premises is required.  For SSE and CASB deployments, SSE can be delivered as a cloud-based service, a virtual appliance, or an on-premises solution, depending on the need, size, and infrastructure of an organization.

SSE vs CASB: Key Differences

Feature	SSE (Secure Service Edge)	CASB (Cloud Access Security Broker)
Focus	Secures web traffic and prevents web-based threats.	Secures cloud-based applications and data from unauthorized access and breaches.
Threat Protection	Detects and prevents web-based threats, such as malware, phishing, and ransomware.	Detects and prevents cloud-based threats, such as data breaches, unauthorized access, and cloud-based malware.
Deployment	Can be deployed as a cloud-based service or on-premises.	Typically deployed as a cloud-based service.
Web Traffic Inspection	Inspects web traffic in real time to detect and prevent web-based threats.	Does not inspect web traffic, and focuses on securing cloud-based applications and data.
Cloud-Based Security	Provides cloud-based web security, allowing organizations to secure web traffic and prevent data breaches.	Provides cloud-based security for cloud-based applications and data, allowing organizations to secure and monitor cloud-based resources.
Access Controls	Does not provide access controls, and focuses on securing web traffic.	Provides access controls, allowing organizations to control who has access to cloud-based applications and data.
Data Loss Prevention	Does not provide data loss prevention, and focuses on securing web traffic.	Provides data loss prevention, allowing organizations to detect and prevent data breaches and unauthorized data access.
Compliance and Governance	Provides compliance and governance features, such as reporting and analytics, to help organizations meet regulatory requirements.	Provides compliance and governance features, such as reporting and analytics, to help organizations meet regulatory requirements.
Cost	Typically less expensive than CASB solutions, as it focuses on securing web traffic.	Typically more expensive than SSE solutions, as it provides more comprehensive cloud-based security features.

What are the Benefits of SSE and CASB?

Here are the benefits of SSE and CASB:

1. SSE has been designed to protect virtual environments, secure the most critical data, and safeguard cloud information. In most instances, SSE provides easy-to-deploy SD-WAN access, which is more user-friendly and less expensive to implement.
2. Providing reliable, flexible security stopping threats at any point, SSE helps businesses know exactly who and what’s connecting on the web. It thereby improves performance through cloud resources such that, from anywhere, users can now quickly and safely access applications, resources, and the internet.
3. One of the most important CASB benefits is stopping cyber threats, including malware and phishing, originating from both outside and inside. This reduces organizational risks by restricting access to its key data, monitoring in real-time the activities that go on online by users, managing privileged accounts, and governing file sharing in the cloud. This helps companies prevent leakage of data through policies with respect to the activity of the users, including restrictions based on access, device, location, and time.
4. The biggest difference lies in the security integration with the assets they protect. To compare SSE and CASB integration, CASB generally secures software as a service app, which can be added to an organization’s security stack. Some SSE products even have the capability to analyze web-based network traffic, such as HTTPS traffic. They potentially provide some cloud network security features for the organization, such as the module cloud firewall and detection and prevention systems.

What are the Key Limitations of SSE vs CASB?

The following are the key limitations of SSE and CASB for organizations:

1. CASB must integrate with other security tools, which adds complexity and cost if the tools are sourced from different vendors. While CASB does answer the question of whether SaaS applications are secure, and it does function at the application layer, this technology doesn’t solve higher-level network performance problems or route optimization issues.
2. CASB protection largely works for SaaS applications. It might leave other parts of an IT environment uncovered unless it is connected to other tools in the overall security ecosystem.
3. Enterprises may go through significant changes in both physical and virtual network systems when moving to an SSE architecture. Using SSE may also create vendor dependence, which limits the selection between different technology solutions. Because SSE is relatively new, the standards and practices for the technology are not fully developed yet, raising concerns and organizational resistance to change.

When to Choose Between CASB vs SSE?

Can’t decide what to select between SSE or CASB? We have you covered.

You should choose SSE if:

• You are mostly worried about internet threats. If your organization is very concerned about defending against threats like malware, phishing, and data breaches, then SSE may be the better choice. It’s because SSE solutions are designed to scan and control web traffic.
• You want a more traditional security solution. If your organization is more conventional when it comes to security options and does not need the advanced features of a CASB that are specific to the cloud, then SSE may be a better choice. SSE usually constitutes an easier setup and handling procedure compared to the former.
• If your organization doesn’t use many cloud services or has no plan to, then SSE should be sufficient for your security needs. In most cases, SSE solutions can offer some cloud-related features, but they are not as complete as those provided by CASB solutions.

Go for CASB if:

• CASB is most likely the best if your organization makes use of multiple cloud services, like Microsoft Office 365, Google Workspace, or Salesforce. CASB solutions were tailored to monitor and manage access to cloud services, so these will be ideal for institutions that mainly run on the cloud.
• You need advanced cloud features. If your organization needs advanced cloud features such as preventing the loss of data in the cloud, encrypting cloud data, or controlling access in the cloud, then CASB is most likely a better option. CASB solutions provide a range of advanced features built for cloud environments.
• You want improved security. In case one wants a better security solution for checking and managing access to cloud and non-cloud resources, then CASB is likely to be the best solution. Mostly, CASB solutions provide different features to monitor and control access both to cloud-based and non-cloud-based enterprise resources.

SSE vs CASB Use Cases

Here is a list of the most popular  use cases:

1. When employees utilize organizational resources from outside the network, SSE solutions are capable of safeguarding web traffic thereby allowing real-time visibility into data breaches. CASB solutions detect and prevent data breaches in cloud apps like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and Salesforce by observing data access and utilization.
2. You can encrypt data on the cloud with CASB and prevent unauthorized access. With a rising number of devices connecting to the internet, SSE solutions can be used to secure IoT traffic. SSE solutions can detect and block web threats, such as malware, phishing, and ransomware.
3. CASB solutions help organizations follow compliance standards by providing a clear view and control over data and applications residing in the cloud. In SSE vs CASB, SSE solutions maintain compliance by providing a holistic picture of web traffic.

Conclusion

SSE and CASB are two different security solutions tailored for other needs and threats. On one hand, SSE excels in keeping web traffic safe and fighting off web-based threats; on the other, CASB is designed to protect cloud applications and data from unauthorized access and breaches. Hence, organizations can make wise decisions to opt for one or use both together by knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each tool. Ultimately, the choice of SSE vs CASB depends on the security requirements and goals at the hand of the organization.

FAQs

Can SSE replace CASB or vice versa?

No, SSE can’t replace CASB completely or vice versa. Only if a company deals with limited web traffic, can CASB be solely used.

Is CASB part of SSE?

Yes, CASB is a part of SSE technology solutions. It is included with it.

What Is the Difference Between SWG and SSE?

SWG can protect your web traffic and prevent web-based threats. SSE is more oriented toward advanced threat detection, cloud-based security, and provides compliance features.

What Is The Difference between SASE vs CASB?

The major functionality of SSE is to secure web traffic and prevent web threats. CASB secures cloud applications and data. SSE provides inspection and control of web traffic, while CASB monitors and controls access to cloud resources.