Under which category does an application that is approved by the IT department, such as Office 365, fall?

In the context of Palo Alto Networks' SaaS security and Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) frameworks, a "sanctioned" application is one that the IT department has officially vetted, approved, and supports for business purposes. Since the question specifies that Office 365 is "approved by the IT department," it directly aligns with the definition of a sanctioned application. This classification is crucial for applying appropriate security controls and policies to applications that handle corporate data.

A. unsanctioned: Refers to applications used by employees without IT knowledge or explicit approval, commonly known as "Shadow IT."
B. prohibited: Describes applications that are explicitly forbidden for use by corporate security policy.
C. tolerated: Pertains to applications that IT is aware of and permits for limited use but does not officially support or approve. ---

1. Palo Alto Networks. (2023). Prisma SaaS Administrator's Guide. In the "Prisma SaaS Concepts" section, a sanctioned application is defined as: "The SaaS applications that you have vetted and approved for use in your organization." This directly supports the classification of an IT-approved application like Office 365 as sanctioned.

2. Palo Alto Networks. (2022). SaaS Security For Dummies, 2nd Palo Alto Networks Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Chapter 3, "Discovering and Controlling Shadow IT," page 23, states: "Sanctioned apps are the ones you know about and have approved for use."

3. Palo Alto Networks. (n.d.). What is Shadow IT?. Palo Alto Networks Technology Resources. The article contrasts sanctioned IT (officially supported) with unsanctioned IT (used without explicit approval), reinforcing the correct usage of these terms.