Cato Adds Cloud Access Security Broker to Converged SASE Platform

Cato Networks has built a cloud access security broker (CASB) into its converged SASE platform.

Cato, which brings together advanced networking and security features into the same secure access serve edge (SASE) offering, deepens its security capabilities with a CASB capability. The new feature lets companies enforce corporate policies for cloud access across Cato’s 70-plus global points of presence. Moreover, Cato CASB uses the cloud application catalog it launched last month, which in turn uses an application credibility engine (ACE) to assess the cloud applications various users deploy.

Cato’s Shlomo Kramer

“CASB addresses a critical visibility and control gap created by cloud migration but must be converged into a broad SASE platform to be truly effective across the business,” said Shlomo Kramer, co-founder and CEO of Cato Networks, “We’ve done just that with Cato CASB. By building Cato CASB into the Cato SPACE engine, it can leverage the global footprint, rich context, cloud scalability, and self-healing and self-maintenance underpinning the Cato SASE Cloud. Cato CASB is just the latest example of high impact, high value capabilities that are effortless to deploy and use.”

Differentiators

Gartner lists the four pillars of cloud access security broker as threat protection, data security, compliance and network visibility.

Cato styles its offering as more quickly and easily deployed than the CASB its competitors deliver.

Cato Networks’ Dave Greenfield

“Deploying CASB is enormously complicated,” said Dave Greenfield, Cato’s director of technology evangelism for the vendor, “And a lot of companies, especially small companies, don’t even bother with it. There’s a lot of planning that goes that goes into it.”

For example, Greenfield said deployment can take several months to deploy for legacy CASB vendors. Customers can immediately access the CASB offering on Cato’s platform.

Cato executives emphasized that they developed the program organically. Last year Cato announced a $200 million funding round that would partially go into product development. Other companies such as Cisco have launched a CASB offering through acquisition. Cato has branded itself as an alternative to “point solutions” from vendors. Those competitors launch SASE platforms by bringing together disparate offerings. Cato, on the other hand, touts its platform as built-from-the-ground.

“When people ask, ‘Are you going to expand to area X?’ generally the answer is that Cato will expand as our customers need us to, but we’re going to do it the Cato way,” Greenfield told Channel Futures.