As work-from-anywhere initiatives gain traction, organizations need to ensure they provide the right levels of access and security to their remote workforces. To do so, they need to adopt a SASE framework.
SASE delivers networking and security services as a single cloud-delivered solution. This provides scalability and reduces costs eliminating the need for hardware deployments at network edge locations.
Convenience
SASE framework is a single cloud service providing security and networking-as-a-service capabilities. This includes next-generation firewall (NGFW) and secure web gateway (SWG) capabilities, zero-trust network access (ZTNA), WAN optimization, CASB, and inline data loss prevention (DLP) capabilities. Combined, these provide a seamless and convenient way for remote and distributed users to access corporate applications, SaaS, and the web – even from locations where they might not have a private connection.
With SASE, IT executives set policies centrally via a management platform, enforced at edge points of presence (PoPs) close to ending users. SASE solutions also support zero-trust networking, which restricts access based on user, device, and context rather than location and IP address. Since this is a new technology, some companies may need help with a learning curve and require more training to implement a full SASE solution. However, phasing your SASE framework implementation can help you get the most value out of the system while decreasing risk and minimizing disruptions to your business operations. This is especially true for companies undergoing digital transformation or working with remote and hybrid workforces.
Improved Security
The work-from-anywhere revolution has called for a new approach to connecting and securing cloud resources, remote users, and devices and enabling a zero-trust network access model. Legacy systems can no longer support the security demands of a work-from-anywhere workforce, nor do they provide the performance required to meet business requirements.
SASE merges multiple networking and security capabilities into one service, making it easier for IT teams to deploy, manage and secure their networks. It also reduces the number of hardware devices that must be on-premises, reducing the risk of security breaches and other maintenance issues that can drain IT departments’ budgets.
With SASE, data travels directly to its destination at the edge rather than being sent back and forth across the network, reducing latency and bandwidth needs. This also improves security ensuring data is inspected at the most relevant point of presence. A SASE solution can include data loss prevention, which helps ensure compliance and mitigates the risk of exfiltration and data breaches. It can also include threat detection and prevention capabilities that identify and stop dangerous code from reaching your data centers and endpoints.
Flexibility
A SASE framework allows you to prioritize access and optimize network performance as close to the end user as possible, ensuring ultra-low latency. This is especially important when addressing use cases like remote and hybrid office users, global workforces, and various cloud applications.
SASE moves security services to the network edge and integrates networking capabilities in a fully converged, managed service provided one vendor. This enables IT to secure the organization without compromising user productivity and provides a high-quality experience for all users, regardless of location or device. Rather than trying to control everything from the data center centrally, SASE moves functions into the cloud and leverages edge-based routing and optimization for low latency. It also moves the concept of security from a network perimeter to an identity-based approach that allows or denies access based on device, user, location, and application.
The underlying security architecture supports identity-driven access to network resources based on context, including identifying the connecting user, device, application, or IoT object. This reduces the risk of lateral movement following a cyberattack and helps prevent the loss or theft of sensitive data.
IT must carefully evaluate the impact on Capex and Opex costs, scalability, performance, agility, UX, and other factors before deciding on the best path to a SASE framework. Kharam recommends a phased implementation to ensure an organization is fully prepared for the new capabilities of Zero Trust and SASE.
Scalability
Organizations need a secure framework that delivers optimized connectivity and comprehensive security as they scale to support remote and mobile workers, cloud deployments, and IoT devices. SASE solutions converge best-of-breed security and SD-WAN capabilities in the cloud to address these requirements.
SASE frameworks use software to inspect traffic and apply security policies as close to what needs protecting as possible. This approach eliminates backhauling traffic to a data center or private network for security inspection and improves user experience enabling more seamless application access.
Unlike VPNs, SASE solutions don’t require Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) circuitry and can be deployed over commodity broadband networks. Additionally, they can leverage existing private network links to reduce the cost of deploying new infrastructure. Moreover, SASE can bolster security leveraging an identity-based Zero Trust security model to verify users, devices, and applications for consistent access control across the network, including over public Wi-Fi. This approach also helps reduce operational overhead allowing IT staff to focus on strategic projects, such as mapping business and application access requirements.
