Skyhigh Networks, the Leading Cloud Access Security Broker, Granted Patent 9,137,131 for Frictionless and Pervasive Cloud Security

PRESS RELEASE

Campbell, Calif. – Sept 30, 2015 – Skyhigh Networks, the cloud security and enablement company, today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued US Patent 9,137,131 to the company. The patent covers the fundamental ability to intermediate cloud traffic based on user identity established by an Identity Provider and is a key component of Skyhigh Pervasive Cloud Control^TM. Skyhigh Pervasive Cloud Control enables frictionless (no device agents and no impact to cloud service providers) and ubiquitous (no way to get around it) visibility and policy enforcement. The solution was developed to work from any device, across the entire organization (employees, customers and partners), both on and off network. This approach works for both native app and browser based access, while preserving privacy when using the service with a personal identity.

Skyhigh Pervasive Cloud Control further extends Skyhigh’s technology and product leadership as the leading Cloud Access Security Broker. Enterprises gain visibility and enforce policies such as data loss prevention (DLP), encryption of structured and unstructured data and contextual access control for key use cases that include:

1) BYOD access to cloud services

2) Off-network access to cloud services

3) Collaboration between employees, customers and partners

Furthermore, Skyhigh Pervasive Cloud Control delivers these capabilities without requiring an agent on the end-user’s device or otherwise impacting the end-user experience.

BYOD Access to Cloud Services

According to a CompTIA survey, 47 percent of companies have a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy in place, allowing employees to access corporate data from their own devices. With Skyhigh Pervasive Cloud Control, IT and Security teams can support BYOD policies while enforcing their security, compliance and governance policies.

For example, a sales person may be allowed access to a CRM cloud service from their personal iPad to view or update their sales forecast. However, when they try to download their quarterly forecast to their iPad, Skyhigh’s Pervasive Cloud Control automatically prevents the download because it violates the company’s security policies.

Off-Network Access to Cloud Services

According to statistics from the American Community Survey, telecommuting rose 79 percent between 2005 and 2012. With Skyhigh Pervasive Cloud Control, IT and Security teams can support secure off-network access to corporate cloud services without requiring an agent on the device or requiring VPN access to the corporate network.

For example, an employee wants to download an encrypted file stored on the company’s file sharing cloud service while sitting at Starbucks. Skyhigh’s Pervasive Cloud Control seamlessly decrypts the file and the employee gains access to the file in a readable format.

Collaboration Between Employees, Customers and Partners

According to Skyhigh’s recent Cloud Adoption and Risk report, the average enterprise collaborates with 1,555 partners via cloud services. With Skyhigh Pervasive Cloud Control enterprises can meet security, compliance and governance requirements while collaborating effectively with third parties such as customers and partners without breaking business workflows.

For example, while collaborating with a customer’s HR department, an external HR vendor uploads a document containing PHI to the customer’s Office 365 SharePoint site. Skyhigh’s Pervasive Cloud Control immediately flags the file for policy violation, puts the file in quarantine, and replaces it with a tombstone file.

“Reverse Proxy Mode - This mode involves traffic redirection by making configuration changes to how traffic arrives from clients to the SaaS application. One way this can occur is by configuration applied to the SaaS application so that, during the SaaS authentication workflow, each individual app in question is directed to use the CASB provider as the authentication source. The CASB then forwards the authentication request to the IAM solution, and directs future traffic through it as well. This SAML redirection method is a popular way to force end-user traffic through the CASB so that it can perform inspection, even from unmanaged devices.” – Gartner, Select the Right CASB Deployment for Your SaaS Security Strategy, Craig Lawson, Neil MacDonald, Sid Deshpande, March 2015.

Comments on the News

“Good IT security is all about managing two seemingly competing objectives.  In the collaboration and mobility space, those objectives are to deliver pervasive security, compliance and governance or a frictionless user experience in the cloud.  With Skyhigh's Pervasive Cloud Control, we can now have both.” – Rich Mason, Former CSO of Honeywell

“As the first CASB vendor and clear market leader, Skyhigh is solving some of the most substantial security challenges brought about by a cloud-first and mobile-first economy. We are thrilled to be granted this patent for frictionless and pervasive cloud security for mobile-to-cloud visibility and policy enforcement. This is a critical technology for Cloud Access Security Brokers and we plan to defend it vigorously. ” – Kaushik Narayan, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Skyhigh Networks

About Skyhigh Networks

Skyhigh Networks, the cloud security and enablement company, helps enterprises safely adopt cloud services while meeting their security, compliance, and governance requirements. Over 500 enterprises including Aetna, Comcast, DIRECTV, HP, and Western Union use Skyhigh to gain visibility into all cloud services in use and their associated risk; analyze cloud usage to identify security breaches, compromised accounts, and insider threats; and seamlessly enforce security policies with encryption, data loss prevention, contextual access control, and activity monitoring. Headquartered in Campbell, Calif., Skyhigh Networks is backed by Greylock Partners, Sequoia, and Salesforce.com. You can follow us on Twitter @SkyhighNetworks or learn more at skyhighnetworks.com.

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