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The widespread adoption of SaaS applications has led to a significant increase in security risks, with organizations relying heavily on traditional CASB solutions to mitigate these threats. However, these solutions have proven to be inadequate in addressing the issue of shadow SaaS, data damage, and other security challenges.
A recent report, Understanding SaaS Security Risks: Why CASB Solutions Fail to Cover ‘Shadow’ SaaS and SaaS Governance, highlights the pressing security concerns faced by enterprises using SaaS applications. The research emphasizes the growing ineffectiveness of traditional CASB solutions and introduces a revolutionary browser-based approach to SaaS security, providing real-time protection against threats and full visibility into user activity.
Below, we outline the key findings of the report. To access the full report, click here.
The Need for SaaS Security: Understanding the Risks
SaaS applications have become an essential component of modern enterprises, but security teams struggle to manage and protect them. Employees use both sanctioned and non-sanctioned apps, each posing unique risks.
- Non-sanctioned apps – Employees often upload sensitive data to SaaS applications, exposing it to unknown viewers and violating privacy. Additionally, productivity SaaS apps are frequently targeted by adversaries seeking to exploit the valuable information they contain.
- Sanctioned apps – Adversaries attempt to compromise SaaS app user credentials through password reuse, phishing, and malicious browser extensions, allowing them to access the apps and spread across corporate environments.
Breaking Down SaaS Risk Mitigation Capabilities
To effectively mitigate SaaS risks, security solutions must provide the following capabilities:
- Granular visibility into all user activities within the application.
- The ability to detect potential malicious activity.
- Termination of malicious activity.
The Limitations of CASB Solutions
Traditional CASB solutions have been used to secure SaaS apps, but they fall short in covering both sanctioned and unsanctioned apps, across managed and unmanaged devices.
CASB solutions consist of three primary components: Forward Proxy, Reverse Proxy, and API Scanner. However, they are limited in the following ways:
- Forward Proxy – Unable to provide access control on unmanaged devices
- Reverse Proxy – Unable to prevent data exposure on unsanctioned apps
- API Scanner – Unable to prevent malicious activity within sanctioned apps
Furthermore, CASB solutions lack real-time granular visibility into app activity and are unable to translate that into active blocking.
The Browser: The Ultimate Security Control Point
A new approach is needed: Securing SaaS applications directly at the browser level. Since access and activity in any SaaS application, sanctioned or not, typically involve establishing a browser session, building SaaS risk analysis capabilities into the browser would enable it to detect and respond to risks in real-time.
Browser Security vs. CASB: A Comparison
| Browser Security | CASB | ||
| Unsanctioned Apps | Discovery of Shadow SaaS | Yes | Partial |
| Data exposure prevention | Yes | Partial | |
| Identity exposure | Yes | No | |
| Sanctioned Apps | Malicious access | Yes | Partial |
| Data exposure | Yes | Yes | |
| Data exfiltration | Yes | No | |
| Data damage | Yes | No |
Browser Security offers the following advantages:
- 100% Visibility – Detects every SaaS application in use, including shadow IT.
- Granular Enforcement – Applies real-time security policies at the user’s point of interaction.
- Seamless Integration – Works with identity providers (IdPs) and existing security architectures without disrupting user experience.
- Unmatched Protection – Prevents unauthorized access, data leakage, and credential misuse across all devices, whether managed or unmanaged.
For more information on SaaS risk management and browser security protection, read the white paper.
