New York—December 17, 2019 – Avanan, the leading security solution for cloud-based email and collaboration suites, today announced it has been granted a new U.S. Patent for its email-based Shadow IT Discovery. The new patent covers technology that detects and monitors usage of cloud services based on analysis of corporate email. By exposing the usage of unsanctioned platforms in the enterprise, this technology enables Avanan to further secure workplace collaboration tools such as Microsoft Office 365.
Traditionally, this capability is delivered via proxy-based CASBs (Cloud Application Security Brokers), by an endpoint agent or by analysis of different network-device logs. All these methods require extra configuration and complex deployment. In contrast, the patented Avanan technology discovers the use of unsanctioned services by analyzing corporate email. That communication would already have been delivered to Avanan in the context of providing an advanced layer of email security. This allows Avanan clients to receive this valuable information without additional configuration.
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“Shadow IT” describes the practice of employees using software, hardware, applications, and cloud services unsanctioned by company IT policy. With Shadow IT, employees bypass corporate approval process to purchase SaaS-based solutions, such as Dropbox and Slack, to communicate business information internally or with partners, unknowingly placing their organization’s data at risk. In the modern workplace this is inevitable. A recent survey showed that 33% of Fortune 1,000 employees employ unapproved cloud-based platforms to store and share company data, violating corporate compliance and security policies and potentially exposing the corporate data to hackers. A Converge report reveals that 83% of corporate employees engage in informal shadow practices, and that 72% of CIOs were unaware of the scope of Shadow IT usage in their companies.
“Visibility into Shadow IT is a question many IT Security departments want to answer, but the low adoption of CASBs demonstrates it is not enough to justify spending or deploying another tool,” noted Michael Landewe, Avanan co-founder and head of privacy. “This new patented technology from Avanan is the first time they can get this data cost-effectively, without having to manage or buy another tool.”
US Patent # 10,498,835 B2 was granted to the company on December 3rd 2019, and the referenced technology forms the core of the Avanan proxy-free CASB, a complete solution offering a robust mix of visibility, data security, threat protection, and compliance on the Avanan platform. Avanan also licenses the technology to multiple third-party security vendors, who integrate and deploy it as an integral part of their solutions. Additional details on the patented technology can be found at www.avanan.com.
About Avanan
Avanan catches the advanced attacks that evade default and advanced security tools. Its invisible, multi-layer security enables full-suite protection for cloud collaboration solutions such as Office 365™, G-Suite™, and Slack™. The platform deploys in one click via API to prevent Business Email Compromise and block phishing, malware, data leakage, account takeover, and shadow IT across the enterprise. Avanan replaces the need for both Secure Email Gateways and Cloud Access Security Brokers in relation to securing the entire cloud collaboration suite, with a patented solution that goes far beyond any other Cloud Email Security Supplement.
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@AvananSecurity granted its 2nd 2019 #patent: #ShadowIT, or the use of unsanctioned cloud-based services troubles #ITSecurity, #CISOs - making room for #cybersecurity attacks. Clients leverage this protection alongside their #EmailSecurity #Phishing tools https://ctt.ac/rfc7f