More than 90% of large enterprises have adopted a multi-cloud infrastructure.1 From SaaS to PaaS, the list of cloud services that a single organization uses in its everyday operations is literally endless.
Cloud infrastructure offers countless benefits like scalability. But when it comes to security, the risks of data exposure, insider threats, shadow IT, and several other possibilities are higher.
Traditional security measures have failed at securing these cloud services that suit organizations and the compliances that they are subject to.
This is where Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) can prove to be beneficial. They remove critical security gaps and provide complete visibility, control, and protection across the cloud infrastructure.
What Is a Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)?
A Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), or cas-bee as it is often called, is a software that bridges the gap between cloud service users and cloud applications. Its primary purpose is to monitor all interactions between the users and the applications and enforce security policies during such interactions.
What makes CASB solutions unique is that they combine various security policies like authentication, single sign-on, authorization, credential mapping, device profiling, encryption, and much more. They continuously monitor user activity and the alerting system or network admins when anomalies occur or are expected.
Why do Businesses Need a CASB solution?
As cloud adoption accelerates at a staggering pace, businesses face growing challenges in managing security, ensuring compliance, and maintaining control over user data and applications.
Traditional tools are no longer sufficient to meet the growing needs of data security, primarily because:
- They often lack visibility into shadow IT and unauthorized cloud application usage, making it difficult to track and control cloud activities.
- They may not be designed to enforce security policies in a multi-cloud environment.
- They may not provide real-time threat detection and remediation.
A CASB helps maintain control over cloud operations by handling the four critical security areas listed below. It is what makes them valuable to organizations.
- Visibility: Gain real-time insights into user activities, app usage, and potential risks.
- Compliance: Ensure regulatory adherence by applying consistent security policies across cloud services.
- Data security: Protect sensitive information with encryption, tokenization, and access controls.
- Threat protection: Detects and responds to security threats like malware, unusual activity, and unauthorized access in real time.
Ultimately, a CASB enables businesses to confidently leverage the cloud while ensuring data integrity, security, and regulatory adherence.
CASB Solutions Landscape in 2025
Like most cloud services there are endless options for CASB solutions as well. However, picking the right solution that will seamlessly integrate with your current tech stack and provide compounded value is an uphill task.
Take a look at the leading CASB solutions in 2025. Explore their core features and capabilities. You can go through Gartner Peer Insights reviews for additional insights about them. Let’s go over them below:
1. SentinelOne Singularity CASB
SentinelOne’s Singularity™ Cloud Security CASB is an all-Inclusive CASB Solution. It offers top-notch cloud security that is fortified using AI algorithms. Consider it the most reliable platform for addressing critical vulnerabilities and gaps, right from build time through runtime.
SentinelOne’s CASB solution helps eliminate common cyber security threats such as misconfigurations, overextended cloud permissions, hidden vulnerabilities, and fragmented visibility across cloud environments.
Platform at a Glance
- Unified CNAPP platform
- Industry’s only AI-powered runtime protection
- Full coverage for public, private, hybrid, and on-prem clouds
- The most awarded cloud security suite in the world
Features:
- Advanced Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) for complete visibility and control over cloud assets across SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS platforms.
- Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) that analyzes potential threats, and delivers actionable insights in real time.
- Vulnerability management that identifies and assesses vulnerabilities within your cloud infrastructure to prevent potential exploits.
- AI-driven posture checks to perform continuous security assessments, ensuring compliance with industry standards and proactively addressing potential security gaps.
Core problems that your business can solve with SentinelOne Singularity CASB:
- Eliminate security posture visibility with comprehensive asset visibility and discovery
- Prevent misconfigurations and compliance gaps
- Identify vulnerabilities in cloud infrastructure
- Secure runtime protection
- Remove inadequate threat intelligence
- Unify fragmented cyber security
Testimonial:
“I would describe SentinelOne in three words. Reliability, performance, and scalability.”
—Raymond Schippers, Head of Threat Detection and Response at Canva
Explore Gartner Peer Insights and Peerspot customer ratings of SentinelOne Singularity CASB.
2. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is a CASB solution that offers threat protection, visibility, and compliance management for cloud applications. It integrates with Microsoft 365 and Azure security suites, providing compatibility with other Microsoft services.
Features:
- Shadow IT discovery for identifying and monitoring unauthorized cloud applications used within your organization.
- Cloud app usage visibility that gives insights into user activities across various cloud applications including data access and usage patterns.
- Protection against app-based threats like data leakage, phishing, code injection, malicious or unauthorized apps, etc.
- Compliance assessments to evaluate cloud applications against regulatory requirements and ensure compliance to avoid non-compliance fines.
Explore reviews of Microsoft Defender for Cloud as a CASB on Gartner Peer Insights and PeerSpot.
3. Netskope Cloud Security Platform
Netskope CASB offers data and threat protection through a cloud-native architecture. It provides visibility and control over data within SaaS, IaaS, and web applications using the Netskope One Platform.
Features:
- Borderless SD-WAN for connectivity without compromising data security and compliance.
- Cloud Security Posture Management assesses your cloud infrastructure to identify and remediate misconfigurations in compliance.
- IaaS Storage Scan that inspects data stored in the IaaS environment and enables proactive data protection.
- Web gateway that scans web traffic and protects users from malicious content and web-based threats like DDoS (Denial of Service) attacks, brute force attacks, etc.
- Netskope One Platform, the proprietary and unified cloud-native platform that converges security and networking services.
Read Netskope’s ratings and reviews on TrustRadius to get an understanding of its CASB features and capabilities.
4. Palo Alto Networks Next-Gen CASB
This CASB solution uses AI-driven insights for risk management. AI enables it to provide threat intelligence and policy enforcement across cloud environments.
Features:
- Data Loss Prevention (DLP) identifies and protects sensitive data across all cloud applications.
- Threat prevention uses a global network of sensors and threat intelligence to provide protection against known and unknown threats
- One-click misconfiguration remediation corrects app misconfigurations.
- Applies security policies and data security controls across all cloud services
- New app discovery identifies and monitors new and emerging applications for malicious behavior or security threats.
Explore comparisons and reviews of Palo Alto Networks CASB on Gartner Peer Insights.
5. Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker
Proofpoint CASB provides data loss prevention (DLP) features designed to protect sensitive information within cloud applications. It utilizes machine learning algorithms to identify anomalies and generate reports for prompt remediation.
Features:
- Built-in DLP classifiers that use pre-configured DLP policies to identify and protect data across cloud applications.
- Advanced machine learning (ML) detectors to accurately detect and prevent data loss incidents and to minimize false positives.
- Protection against cloud account takeovers by monitoring for suspicious user activities and implementing adaptive access controls in real-time.
- Automated remediation against malicious OAuth apps to protect the integrity of cloud app data.
Evaluate Proofpoint’s effectiveness as a CASB by checking out its PeerSpot reviews.
6. Broadcom Symantec CloudSOC
Broadcom Symantec CloudSOC provides cloud security with threat detection, data governance, and user behavior analytics for risk management. Broadcom can generate reports, improve visibility, and manage cloud data.
Features:
- Cloud and SaaS Security Posture Management (CSPM & SSPM) that offers continuous monitoring and assessment of multi-cloud environments.
- Workday CASB Securlets that offer specialized security controls for Workday applications.
- Cloud detection services that deploy advanced analytics to detect and respond to threats in real-time.
- Cloud Workload Assurance (CWA) to ensure security and compliance of workloads across multi cloud environments.
- Consistent compliance across the cloud to ensure uniform implementation of security policies and compliance measures to reduce regulatory violations.
Explore comparisons and reviews of Broadcom Symantec CloudSOC and SentinelOne Singularity CASB on Gartner Peer Insights.
7. Zscaler CASB
Zscaler CASB provides API-based and zero-trust data protection across cloud applications, utilizing its Zero Trust Exchange DLP. It ensures secure user access and supports data compliance.
Features:
- Automatic shadow IT discovery to identify unapproved applications and services being used within the organization.
- Collaboration management to manage and secure collaboration tools, ensuring that their file sharing controls are compliant with security policies.
- Remediate SaaS misconfigurations in real time to reduce security risks
- The Zero Trust Exchange to protect sensitive data by applying granular, context-based policies across the cloud.
You can evaluate how Zscaler performs as a CASB solution by reading its ratings and reviews on TrustRadius.
8. Forcepoint CASB
Forcepoint brings data security and risk-adaptive controls into one place. It offers behavioral analytics and automated policy enforcement for data protection on the cloud and on-premises.
Features:
- Shadow IT reporting and blocking for detailed visibility into unauthorized cloud applications, with the ability to block risky or non-compliant apps
- API inspection to monitor and analyze API traffic to detect vulnerabilities, enforce security measures and smooth integration between services
- Agentless application access secure access to cloud applications without requiring endpoint agents.
- Built-in DLP enforcement to prevent the unauthorized sharing or leakage of sensitive data.
- Classification tagging to organizational data to enforce security and to ensure compliance.
- Network enforcement via ICAP (Internet Content Adaptation Protocol) to enforce security policies at a network level.
Learn what Forcepoint CASB can do for enterprises by reading its ratings and reviews on PeerSpot.
9. Cisco Cloudlock
Cisco Cloudlock provides cloud-native API-based security across users, data and apps. To tighten security, it continuously monitors threats across list countries and spots that exhibit abnormal behavior like speed and actions.
Features:
- Login detection to identify suspicious login activities and alert security services.
- Automated API risk assessment that evaluates the security posture of cloud APIs and takes proactive measures to mitigate risks.
- Cloud threat funnel methodology that uses a systematic approach to identify, prioritize, and mitigate cloud-based threats
- Integrates with all Cisco products for seamless cloud security operations.
See how Cisco Cloudlock work and assess its CASB capabilities by reading its SourceForge ratings and reviews.
10. Skyhigh Security CASB
Skyhigh Security CASB offers a platform that unifies security policy implementation, creates custom securities, and manages incidents. It offers protection for all cloud services and also coaches users in real-time within the services they use.
Features:
- Cloud and device DLP to ensure data is protected irrespective of where it is stored.
- Insider threat protection by monitoring user behavior, identifying anomalies, and enforcing policies.
- Post-incident guided investigation to help security teams identify root causes and plan for risk mitigation.
- Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) to ensure that cloud applications are continuously verified and restricted based on user identity.
- User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) to track and proactively detect deviations in user behavior.
Check out the ratings and reviews of Skyhigh Security CASB on PeerSpot.
11. Lookout Secure Cloud Access CASB
Last, but not the least, Lookout Secure Cloud Access CASB offers protection against cyber threats across both managed and unmanaged devices. It prioritizes endpoint-to-cloud security and implements security policy across mail, IaaS and SaaS apps.
Features:
- Malware detection that prevents threats from disrupting systems and data.
- Threat protection across all cloud environments and malicious behavior.
- Managed and unmanaged cloud activity visibility across multiple cloud environments.
- SaaS and IaaS DLP to secure sensitive data and ensure its safe retrieval in the event of any security incident.
Find out how well Lookout is as a CASB by reading its ratings and reviews on PeerSpot.
How to Choose the Right CASB Solution
From the above list, it is evident that not all CASB solutions are built equally. Each solution has its own USPs which makes it a better alternative than the rest. Evaluating all these USPs and making an informed decision is difficult. However, if you check if the CASB of your choice offers some must-have capabilities, you are bound to make a good decision.
Here are what we think are some must-have capabilities one must check for:
Compatibility with Popular Cloud Services
- Does the CASB support all cloud platforms your organization uses (e.g., AWS, Azure, Google Cloud)?
- Can it provide seamless visibility and policy enforcement across different cloud environments?
Data Security Capabilities
- Does the CASB offer robust encryption for data in transit and at rest?
- Are tokenization and data loss prevention (DLP) capabilities included to protect sensitive information?
- Can the CASB apply data security policies consistently across all cloud services?
Threat Detection and Response
- Can the CASB detect and block malware or other malicious activities in real-time?
- Are there automated responses for unusual behavior or potential security incidents?
Compliance and Policy Enforcement
- Does the CASB support major global compliance standards such as GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, etc.?
- Can it enforce security policies consistently across cloud services to ensure regulatory compliance?
Shadow IT Discovery and Management
- Does the CASB offer tools to discover and monitor unauthorized or unsanctioned apps?
- Can it enforce restrictions on unauthorized applications to limit data exposure risks?
Access Control and User Management
- Are there advanced access controls, such as role-based access, to restrict sensitive data access?
- Can access be managed based on user roles and activity across all cloud environments?
- Does the CASB integrate with identity management systems (IAM) for streamlined user authentication?
Integration with Existing Security Infrastructure
- Is the CASB compatible with your existing security tech stack (e.g., SIEM, IAM, firewalls)?
- Can it enable coordinated threat detection and response alongside other security solutions?
Reporting and Analytics
- Does the CASB provide detailed reports on cloud activity, security incidents, and policy compliance?
- Can reports be customized to support specific security and compliance metrics?
- Can compliance reports be created automatically in adherence to requirements laid down by international standards like GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, etc.?
Conclusion
For any organization, irrespective of its size, cloud security is non-negotiable. The right choice of a CASB solution can make all the difference. As cloud environments become more diverse with SaaS, IaaS, and multi-cloud environments—it is necessary to have a CASB solution that can work alongside a multi-cloud environment.
They have become indispensable for data protection, threat detection, and regulatory compliance support. A CASB solution is not an operational expense, rather an investment that will build your organization’s cyber security resilience.
The list of CASB solutions discussed above offer state-of-the-art protection against all cloud security threats.
Looking for a comprehensive CASB solution that can protect your data everywhere on the cloud? SentinelOne is the answer. Get a demo today!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. How does a CASB differ from other cloud security solutions?
A CASB (Cloud Access Security Broker) is designed specifically to address the unique security challenges of cloud environments.
Other cloud security solutions might focus on network perimeter or endpoint protection only while CASBs can bridge the gap between both cloud users and cloud applications.
2. What are the key features to look for in a CASB solution?
When evaluating a CASB solution, consider features like:
- Visibility: Detailed insights into user activities and data usage.
- Data security: Tools for data encryption, Data Loss Prevention (DLP), and sensitive data classification.
- Threat protection: Advanced threat detection and real-time response capabilities.
- Compliance support: Built-in compliance tools to help meet regulatory standards.
- Access control: Granular access management to enforce security policies and restrict unauthorized access.
3. Is it necessary for all businesses to use a CASB?
While smaller businesses with limited cloud usage might manage without a CASB, those in regulated industries or with complex cloud architectures benefit greatly from the visibility, security, and compliance support that a CASB provides.
4. How do CASB solutions handle data encryption and protection?
CASB solutions typically encrypt sensitive data both in transit and when stored. They also have DLP (Data Loss Protection) capabilities which detect, classify, and protect sensitive data.
5. Can CASB solutions help with regulatory compliance?
Yes, CASB solutions are equipped to support regulatory compliance by enforcing policies that align with industry standards (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS). They spare organizations from the need to manually audit or create reports.