What Is the Difference Between CNAPP Vs. CASB?
CNAPP (cloud-native application protection platform) and CASB (cloud access security broker) are cybersecurity solutions that help organizations protect their data and applications in the cloud.
CNAPP is a comprehensive, unified platform that secures cloud-native applications throughout their lifecycle. It protects applications and fits smoothly into the development process, finding and fixing issues early on. CNAPP combines capabilities to help organizations:
- Manage cloud security
- Protect cloud workloads
- Manage access permissions
- Secure CI/CD processes
A cloud access security broker secures an organization's usage of cloud services and applications. CASBs are intermediaries between an organization's on-premises infrastructure or network and cloud services. They offer visibility, control and security capabilities to help organizations ensure the safety and security of their cloud usage.
The Importance of Using a Cloud Security Platform
Cloud-native security embeds protective measures directly within an organization's strategy for developing cloud-native applications, focusing on securing the applications by identifying and addressing misconfigurations and vulnerabilities.
Effective cloud security requires a proactive, holistic approach, but many organizations have reacted to emerging security threats as one-off problems, amassing myriad point tools. This patchwork approach is problematic because it hinders the organization's ability to maintain a cohesive and unified security posture. The disjointed nature of multiple tools causes gaps in visibility and protection, making it difficult to identify and respond to threats.
As a consolidated, comprehensive cloud security platform, CNAPP offers the holistic approach organizations need to effectively secure their cloud ecosystem.
What Is CNAPP?
A CNAPP, first coined by Gartner in 2021, is a cloud security solution that continues to gain popularity as organizations adopt more cloud-native applications and services. Traditional cybersecurity solutions, such as firewalls and intrusion detection systems, need to be better suited to protect cloud-native applications. At the same time, CNAPPs are explicitly designed to address their unique security challenges.
Cloud-native applications are built using microservices architecture, containerization and dynamic scaling, often deployed within container orchestration platforms like Kubernetes. These applications have specific security considerations due to their distributed nature, rapid deployment cycles and reliance on cloud services.
Workload Protection
A CNAPP protects workloads from vulnerabilities, malware and other threats. It also provides runtime protection to prevent attacks from exploiting vulnerabilities in applications.
Related article: Understanding Cloud Workload Protection Platform
Cloud Security Posture Management
CNAPPs help organizations assess and manage their cloud security posture, providing visibility into cloud configurations, identifying security risks and recommending remediation steps.
Compliance Management
CNAPPs help organizations comply with security regulations, such as PCI DSS, HIPAA and GDPR, providing out-of-the-box compliance reports that can be customized to meet specific requirements.
What Is CASB?
CASB, short for cloud access security broker, is a cybersecurity solution that helps organizations secure their usage of cloud services and applications. CASBs act as intermediaries between an organization's on-premises infrastructure or network and its cloud services, providing visibility, control and security capabilities.
The primary objectives of CASBs are to enable organizations to safely adopt and manage cloud applications while maintaining data security, compliance and governance. They bridge on-premises security controls and cloud services, providing a unified security framework for organizations adopting cloud technologies.
Visibility and Discovery
CASBs provide visibility into the cloud services used within an organization. They help discover and categorize cloud applications, assess their risk levels, and identify shadow IT, which refers to unauthorized cloud services within an organization.
Data Protection
CASBs offer data protection to safeguard sensitive information in the cloud. This includes data loss prevention (DLP) features that monitor and prevent the unauthorized transmission of sensitive data. CASBs can enforce encryption, tokenization or redaction policies to protect data at rest or in transit.
Access Controls
CASBs enable organizations to enforce access controls and policies for cloud applications. They often provide features like single sign-on (SSO) and multifactor authentication (MFA) to ensure secure access to cloud services. CASBs can also enforce role-based access controls and provide granular control over user privileges.
Threat Protection
CASBs help identify and mitigate security threats within cloud environments. They provide threat intelligence, behavior analytics and anomaly detection capabilities to detect and respond to potential threats. CASBs can monitor user activities, detect suspicious behavior, and trigger alerts or automated responses.
Compliance
CASBs assist organizations in meeting regulatory compliance requirements. They offer capabilities to monitor and enforce compliance policies specific to industries and regions. CASBs can generate compliance reports and audit logs and facilitate incident response and forensic investigations.
Key Differences Between CNAPP and CASB
While there may be some overlap in functionality, CNAPPs and CASBs have distinct focus areas and different deployment models. Organizations should consider their security needs and the nature of their workloads to determine whether CNAPP, CASB or a combination of both would be best for their enterprise security operations.
The primary differences between CNAPP and CASB lie in their deployment, scope of protection, and functionality.
Deployment
CNAPPs are typically deployed directly within the cloud environment where the cloud-native applications reside. They integrate with the cloud infrastructure and provide security controls and protections tailored to cloud workloads.
CASBs are typically deployed as a gateway between an organization's on-premises infrastructure and its cloud services. CASBs act as brokers, providing visibility, control and security capabilities for accessing cloud applications.
Scope of Protection
CNAPPs primarily focus on securing and protecting cloud-native applications and workloads. They provide capabilities such as runtime protection, vulnerability management and compliance management for cloud workloads.
CASBs primarily focus on securing access to cloud applications and data. They provide features such as access controls, data loss prevention (DLP), threat protection, and cloud data encryption. CASBs help enforce security policies and monitor user activities within cloud applications.
Functionality
Designed to secure the cloud application lifecycle, CNAPPs offer cloud security posture management, vulnerability management, container security, web application and API security, and data security posture management. CNAPPs often incorporate capabilities like threat intelligence, behavior analysis and security automation to address the unique challenges of cloud-native environments.
CASBs focus on identity and access management (IAM), data protection, and compliance. They provide single sign-on (SSO) features, user behavior analytics, data encryption and cloud application discovery. CASBs help organizations enforce security policies, prevent data leakage and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.
What Are CWPP and CSPM?
Cloud workload protection platform (CWPP) and cloud security posture management (CSPM) are both components of the cloud-native application protection platform.
CWPP is focused on safeguarding cloud workloads by providing a range of capabilities to identify and mitigate threats. They provide visibility of cloud resources across multiple cloud providers in various runtime environments and perform security functions like vulnerability scanning and remediation, system integrity checks and application allowlisting.
CSPM is a cloud security solution that enables organizations to assess and manage their cloud security posture. CSPMs provide visibility into cloud configurations, identify security risks, and recommend remediation steps. CSPMs can also help organizations comply with security regulations. They are designed to help organizations improve their cloud security posture and reduce their risk of data breaches and other security incidents.
