Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps (formerly Microsoft Cloud App Security) is a multimode cloud access security broker.
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Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access
Score 8.3 out of 10
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GlobalProtect™
delivers the protection of next-generation security platform to the mobile
workforce in order to stop targeted cyberattacks, evasive application
traffic, phishing, malicious websites, command-and-control traffic, and known
and unknown threats.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is well suited when working with other Microsoft Applications. For example, if you are working with Microsoft Office 365 it works very well when implementing CASB features. It works when implementing monitoring or blocks on Sanctioned applications however customizing the message to users is not that great.
I still think Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access is the best SASE/SSE product out there. It just has such good granular controls and up to date security definitions that you can feel absolutely secure in your purchase. GlobalProtect was a lifesaver for me when COVID hit so yes I had to work my butt off to get it up and running quickly and as secure as I possibly could but it worked amazing and had excellent performance after we got it running and tied to MFA, certificates and security policies.
The integration to Microsoft Entra ID is seamless, which allows Conditional Access to redirect the session to Microsoft Defender for Cloud App for it to take actions (Block or Monitor).
Tracker users' activity is very good when troubleshooting or running an investigate.
Detecting risky users through tight integration with Microsoft Entra ID is a very good feature.
Detecting mass downloads and blocking the download of files from non-manage company devices is a very good feature as well.
It takes some time to scan and apply the policies when there is some sensitive information.
After it applies the policies, it works, but there is a delay.
It doesn't provide any way to scan Microsoft Teams when an external exchange of images is happening. You can always do the filtering on the documents during the chat, but if there is an image, then some kind of OCR capability is required to detect it. At present, there is no way [Microsoft Cloud App Security] can go and detect those kinds of images and alert us
The interface is pretty simple and easy to use; however, you will need to do a lot of investigative research on your own to get comfortable with it. Originally, many of the Microsoft security tools had their own seperate consoles. Overtime, they have blended into one interface which is the ideal state. In some cases it is clear Microsoft had to pick which console a certain feature or setting was going to reside in and this leads to some confusion. For example, DLP is managed through Defender for Cloud Apps but you will also need to jump into Purview. For things like reverse proxy on your M365 tenant, you will need to go into Azure and setup conditional access rules. Not a big problem and I can understand why the settings are located where they are but for someone just starting out with Defender for Cloud Apps, it will take some time to figure out.
I still say that Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access is the best. I love their GUI, their policies are easy to manage, the sales team is VERY helpful (especially when support is not). I still recommend them to everyone I talk to.
I have not utilized actual support but the Sales and Product teams have been super helpful in moving our implementation forward and showing us the best practices.
More flexible and more features with easy integration with cloud services like Microsoft Azure and other cloud services. Overall both gives similar features but we prefer Microsoft cloud app security due to its high threat detection rate. mostly we have been able to stop the threat in very very less time.
The McAfee product really isn’t a great option. The configuration is a nightmare and requires a lot of time. The policy management has a high learning curve.
Cloud App Security saves us thousands of dollars finding and rectifying apps security issues
Identity Security Posture helps the organization identity stay in shape, saving thousands of dollars on security consultations
The cost of suffering a breach cannot be quantified, CAS helps minimize the chances of the attackers succeeding, with excellent historical logging for most operations
