The Importance of Visibility and Control in SSE

The cloud computing industry is worth almost $700 billion and still growing. Think about how much data your organization stores in the cloud — particularly if you have a remote or hybrid work structure. A security service edge (SSE) solution can help you keep this data secure. This technology protects cloud resources by monitoring and restricting data flow, regardless of location or device. To accomplish this goal, SSE tools give administrators visibility into how data moves and control over who can access it.

SSEs provide visibility by centralizing data from various sources, monitoring user activities, detecting likely threats, and tracking data flow in real time. They provide control by verifying user identities, enforcing zero trust principles, and employing data loss prevention (DLP) strategies. By leveraging these concepts in your organization's cybersecurity framework, you can protect your sensitive data on premises, in the cloud, and on both company-issued and personal devices.

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Visibility features in SSE

In the context of an SSE, “visibility” refers to an administrator’s ability to see an organization’s sensitive data, as well as how users access, modify, and share it. Visibility allows administrators to spot unusual activity and make informed decisions about how to address it.

Data centralization

Data centralization is the process of bringing together information from multiple sources into a single, unified location. While it may not be practical for your organization to store every file in a central repository, you should at least have a single source of truth for all of your network traffic and security policies. An SSE platform can give you a bird’s-eye view of every file and user in your network and the tools you need to find missing resources or suspicious access patterns.

User activity monitoring

In modern hybrid and remote workplaces, staff members can access cloud data from almost any location or device. Furthermore, usernames and passwords are readily available via social engineering and dark web marketplaces. As such, differentiating legitimate users from compromised accounts can be difficult. SSE solutions address this problem with sophisticated algorithms that monitor user behavior, including user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA). An SSE platform can recognize and report unusual activity based on a user’s location, IP address, login time, file usage, and similar factors.

Threat detection

A good SSE solution should leverage the latest threat intelligence data. When a user encounters a malicious website or application, an SSE platform can flag it right away and potentially even block access. Other SSE tools allow administrators to identify phishing attacks, run remote malware scans, and analyze threats in specific geographic regions.

Real-time data tracking

If you only learn about a threat — or a data breach — in a weekly report, it will be too late to do anything about it. SSE platforms track logins, data usage, and network traffic in real time. As soon as something suspicious happens, an administrator can receive a notification and take a deeper dive into the available data. From there, they can decide whether to contact a user directly, quarantine harmful content, or oust potential threat actors from the system ASAP.

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Control features in SSE

“Control” in an SSE platform refers to its ability to address threats directly. While visibility features flag potential issues and let administrators take action, control features are often automated. These policies and principles can thwart threat actors before and after entering a restricted network.

Identity-based access policies

Under traditional cybersecurity setups, a legitimate username and password might grant full access to a network and its files. Today, identity-based access policies allow much more granular distinctions. An SSE platform uses secure web gateway (SWG), cloud access security broker (CASB), and zero trust network access (ZTNA) tools to verify a user’s identity based on multi-factor authentication (MFA), location, file access patterns, and other hard-to-replicate criteria.

Zero trust principles

Zero trust principles assume that any login — even one with a correct username and password — could be from a compromised account. As such, SSE solutions require additional steps for users to prove their identities. MFA requires a time-sensitive passcode for each login. Continuous authentication makes a user log in multiple times per session rather than just once. The principle of least privilege limits access to sensitive files based on a user’s job responsibilities. These techniques not only make it more difficult for threat actors to log in, but also give administrators more time to respond in case of a breach.

Data loss prevention

SSE platforms work hand-in-hand with DLP technologies. These tools help prevent data leakage, which occurs when an unauthorized party gains access to private files. Data leakage could result from a threat actor causing a data breach or a legitimate user accidentally posting a file on a public server. DLP protects data through encryption, access controls, and continuous monitoring, among other tools. Like other SSE protocols, DLP can account for a user’s permissions, location, and device risk before granting or denying access to a particular file.

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Challenges and benefits of implementing SSE

While the control and visibility an SSE solution offers are invaluable cybersecurity tools, they may create a few points of friction. Since SSE platforms can analyze personal devices, employees may voice privacy concerns about using them. Zero trust policies subject users to frequent, potentially inconvenient checkpoints. It’s also possible for SSE protections to be overzealous, such as by locking legitimate users out of their own files. This creates extra work for both the user and the administrator who must solve their problem.

The best way to implement SSE protocols is to educate employees about their benefits — as well as the potential risks of relying on more traditional methods. Data breaches are a constant risk, even for organizations that take cybersecurity seriously. An SSE platform can put dozens of roadblocks between a threat actor and a piece of sensitive data, even if an employee loses a device or falls for a phishing scam.

Embracing SSE solutions protects individual employees as well as organizational data. This is especially true in industries with legal compliance standards, such as healthcare and finance, where a data breach could result in costly federal intervention.

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Secure your cloud data with Lookout

SSE solutions can protect your organization’s data, no matter where that data resides or who tries to access it. Between hybrid workforces, ubiquitous mobile devices, and a growing reliance on cloud computing, there are more potential venues for cyber attacks than ever before. The Lookout e-book How to Build An Effective Data Security Strategy outlines five proactive steps you can take to secure sensitive files while offering your staff the convenience and flexibility they expect.