Netskope extends data protection leadership with acquisition of Dasera. Read the press release

close
close
  • Why Netskope chevron

    Changing the way networking and security work together.

  • Our Customers chevron

    Netskope serves more than 3,400 customers worldwide including more than 30 of the Fortune 100

  • Our Partners chevron

    We partner with security leaders to help you secure your journey to the cloud.

A Leader in SSE.
Now a Leader in Single-Vendor SASE.

Learn why Netskope debuted as a leader in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™️ for Single-Vendor Secure Access Service Edge

Get the report
Customer Visionary Spotlights

Read how innovative customers are successfully navigating today’s changing networking & security landscape through the Netskope One platform.

Get the eBook
Customer Visionary Spotlights
Netskope’s partner-centric go-to-market strategy enables our partners to maximize their growth and profitability while transforming enterprise security.

Learn about Netskope Partners
Group of diverse young professionals smiling
Your Network of Tomorrow

Plan your path toward a faster, more secure, and more resilient network designed for the applications and users that you support.

Get the white paper
Your Network of Tomorrow
Netskope Cloud Exchange

The Netskope Cloud Exchange (CE) provides customers with powerful integration tools to leverage investments across their security posture.

Learn about Cloud Exchange
Aerial view of a city
  • Security Service Edge Products chevron

    Protect against advanced and cloud-enabled threats and safeguard data across all vectors.

  • SD-WAN chevron

    Confidently provide secure, high-performance access to every remote user, device, site, and cloud.

  • Secure Access Service Edge chevron

    Netskope One SASE provides a cloud-native, fully-converged and single-vendor SASE solution.

The platform of the future is Netskope

Intelligent Security Service Edge (SSE), Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), Cloud Firewall, Next Generation Secure Web Gateway (SWG), and Private Access for ZTNA built natively into a single solution to help every business on its journey to Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture.

Go to Products Overview
Netskope video
Next Gen SASE Branch is hybrid — connected, secured, and automated

Netskope Next Gen SASE Branch converges Context-Aware SASE Fabric, Zero-Trust Hybrid Security, and SkopeAI-powered Cloud Orchestrator into a unified cloud offering, ushering in a fully modernized branch experience for the borderless enterprise.

Learn about Next Gen SASE Branch
People at the open space office
SASE Architecture For Dummies

Get your complimentary copy of the only guide to SASE design you’ll ever need.

Get the eBook
SASE Architecture For Dummies eBook
Make the move to market-leading cloud security services with minimal latency and high reliability.

Learn about NewEdge
Lighted highway through mountainside switchbacks
Safely enable the use of generative AI applications with application access control, real-time user coaching, and best-in-class data protection.

Learn how we secure generative AI use
Safely Enable ChatGPT and Generative AI
Zero trust solutions for SSE and SASE deployments

Learn about Zero Trust
Boat driving through open sea
Netskope achieves FedRAMP High Authorization

Choose Netskope GovCloud to accelerate your agency’s transformation.

Learn about Netskope GovCloud
Netskope GovCloud
  • Resources chevron

    Learn more about how Netskope can help you secure your journey to the cloud.

  • Blog chevron

    Learn how Netskope enables security and networking transformation through secure access service edge (SASE)

  • Events and Workshops chevron

    Stay ahead of the latest security trends and connect with your peers.

  • Security Defined chevron

    Everything you need to know in our cybersecurity encyclopedia.

Security Visionaries Podcast

The Future of Security: Quantum, AI, and Macro-political Change
Emily Wearmouth and Max Havey speak with Netskope CEO Sanjay Beri and CTO Krishna Narayanaswamy about the future of security.

Play the podcast Browse all podcasts
The Future of Security: Quantum, AI, and Macro-political Change
Latest Blogs

Read how Netskope can enable the Zero Trust and SASE journey through secure access service edge (SASE) capabilities.

Read the blog
Sunrise and cloudy sky
SASE Week 2024 On-Demand

Learn how to navigate the latest advancements in SASE and zero trust and explore how these frameworks are adapting to address cybersecurity and infrastructure challenges

Explore sessions
SASE Week 2024
What is SASE?

Learn about the future convergence of networking and security tools in today’s cloud dominant business model.

Learn about SASE
  • Company chevron

    We help you stay ahead of cloud, data, and network security challenges.

  • Careers chevron

    Join Netskope's 3,000+ amazing team members building the industry’s leading cloud-native security platform.

  • Customer Solutions chevron

    We are here for you and with you every step of the way, ensuring your success with Netskope.

  • Training and Accreditations chevron

    Netskope training will help you become a cloud security expert.

Supporting sustainability through data security

Netskope is proud to participate in Vision 2045: an initiative aimed to raise awareness on private industry’s role in sustainability.

Find out more
Supporting Sustainability Through Data Security
Help shape the future of cloud security

At Netskope, founders and leaders work shoulder-to-shoulder with their colleagues, even the most renowned experts check their egos at the door, and the best ideas win.

Join the team
Careers at Netskope
Netskope dedicated service and support professionals will ensure you successful deploy and experience the full value of our platform.

Go to Customer Solutions
Netskope Professional Services
Secure your digital transformation journey and make the most of your cloud, web, and private applications with Netskope training.

Learn about Training and Certifications
Group of young professionals working

Activities in the Cloud, and What They Mean

Nov 05 2015
Tags
Cloud Best Practices
Cloud Security
Netskope Cloud Report
Tools and Tips

Each quarter we report on aggregated, anonymized findings such as top used apps, top activities, and top policy violations from across our customers using the Netskope Active Platform.

While this season’s report highlights industry usage, especially data violations in industries like healthcare and retail, an important area we dug into was activities. Unlike perimeter solutions that articulate activity in cloud services in “gets” and “posts” and measure them in bytes up or down, we can tell the actual activity, like “share,” “upload,” “create,” “post,” “edit,” “download,” “approve,” and so on. Because we normalize these activities, we can see usage in aggregate, for example, all “shares” whether they’re in Cloud Storage, CRM, Business Intelligence, or Finance apps. This gives our customers a sense for where the non-compliant or risky activities are likely to be, what constitutes real data movement (versus just a chatty app), and potential data exposure, as well as enables our customers to know where to set granular, activity-level policies that address real risk (versus taking a coarse-grained, allow-or-block approach).

With that in mind, here are some activity-level aggregate findings (and my attempt at interpreting them!) that, when put into the context of their cloud app categories, are unexpected or at least put risk into stark relief. Here goes…

We start with Cloud Storage (apps like Dropbox, Box, Microsoft 365, and Google Workspace):

  • “Share” is the most common activity
  • For every “login,” there are four “shares”
  • For every “upload,” there are two “downloads”

Why do we care about “downloads” and “shares?” These are activities associated with data leakage and exposure. When IT doesn’t always have visibility into what apps are in use, much less what content is housed in them, data-exposing activities take on new meaning. Is that file that’s being shared a photo or a non-public draft of your quarterly earnings release?

Another category we looked at is HR (apps like SuccessFactors, Workday, Taleo, and Cornerstone OnDemand):

  • “Download” is the fourth most common activity
  • There are nearly as many “downloads” as “uploads”
  • “Share” is a top-ten activity

Why do we care about “downloads” in HR? Unlike apps that we hear a lot about, such as Dropbox and Evernote, HR apps are often not on IT’s radar. This means organizations often don’t know the extent of HR apps in their environment, who’s administering them, and whether the apps have proper access and data controls in place. With this lack of visibility as a backdrop, “download” of information can signal a policy violation and potentially exposure of sensitive employee information. What if the downloader is not in HR? What if they’re a former HR director who left the company two weeks ago?

Finally, we looked at Business Intelligence apps (apps like Qualtrics, Birst, or Tableau):

  • “Share” is the most common activity
  • For every data “upload,” there are two “shares”
  • There are as many “downloads” as there are “views”

Why do we care about “shares” in Business Intelligence apps? These apps often house confidential corporate information such as line-of-business performance metrics. While many such apps will have controls in place that prevent inadvertent sharing outside of the company, sometimes it is possible to share with unauthorized individuals within the company.

In short, activities can say a lot about the nature of the app, how and whether people are deriving value from it, and how risky it may be in an organization. Activities can signal out-of-compliant behaviors and, when taken with other data, such as our compromised account intelligence, can indicate external threats. Activities are essential!

Which combination of apps and activities are you most interested in?

Stay informed!

Subscribe for the latest from the Netskope Blog