What is SASE? How does it benefit you?

sase security

From every file opened to every access granted, your organization’s productivity is rooted in your network. Because of this, having a good plan for your network infrastructure and security is crucial to your organization’s well-being. With thousands of different network security products on the market, it’s hard to know which products will work together to create a barrier around your network and if your network infrastructure is efficient. To help solve this, a leading IT research and advisory company, Gartner, predicts that 40% of organizations will adopt SASE by 2024.

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What is SASE? 

SASE provides converged networks and security as a service capability such as SD-WAN, SWG, CASB, NGFW, and zero trust network access (ZTNA). SASE supports secure access use cases in branch offices, remote workers, and on-premises. SASE is primarily delivered as a service and enables zero trust access based on the device or entity’s identity, in conjunction with real-time context and security and compliance policies. These are delivered as a service from the cloud and can be managed centrally to support today’s agile operations.

SASE, which is pronounced “sassy,” refers to the entire framework rather than a particular technology. The SASE framework is a cloud-based cybersecurity solution that offers “comprehensive WAN capabilities with comprehensive network security functions (such as SWG, CASB, FWaaS, and ZTNA to support the dynamic secure access needs of organizations,” according to Gartner’s 2019 report, “The Future of Network Security is in the Cloud.”

What makes SASE stand out from other solutions?

Rather than relying on data center security, traffic from your users’ devices is inspected at a nearby point of presence (the enforcement point) before being routed to its destination. This means faster access to applications and data, making it the far superior choice for protecting distributed workforces and data in the cloud.

Benefits of SASE

Cloud-based SASE offers significant benefits to organizations that put aside traditional on-premises enterprise network infrastructure and security to take advantage of cloud services, mobility, and other aspects of digital transformation.

Reduced complexity and IT costs

Organizations are compelled to embrace a variety of security solutions, which adds considerable expenses and management overhead, as they seek to offer secure access to cloud services, safeguard remote users and devices, and close other security gaps. Therefore, the on-premises network security architecture is ineffective in a digital environment. SASE flips the security model rather than attempting to apply a vintage idea to a contemporary issue.

SASE puts a greater emphasis on entities, like users than on a secure boundary. SASE services push access and security near users based on the idea of edge computing, which processes information close to the systems and people who require it. SASE dynamically permits or forbids connections to a resource based on an organization’s security policy.

Quick and Seamless User Experience

It was easy to control and predict the user experience when users were connected to the network and IT-managed apps and infrastructure. In multi-cloud environments, VPNs are still used to connect users to their networks for security. Nevertheless, VPNs are poor user experiences that result in IP addresses being exposed to attackers.

As an alternative to these degradations, SASE calls for security to be enforced near where it is needed—instead of sending the user to security, it sends security to the user. Cloud-based SASE automatically manages connections at internet exchanges in real-time and optimizes connections to cloud applications and services to ensure low latency.

Reduced Risk of attacks

SASE is a cloud-native solution created to handle the specific risks associated with the scattered users and apps that make up today’s world. It guarantees that all connections are examined and secured, regardless of location, application, or encryption, by defining security—including threat protection and data loss prevention (DLP)—as a core component of the connectivity architecture.

Zero trust network access (ZTNA), a crucial element of the SASE framework, gives mobile users, distant workers, and branch offices secure application access while reducing the attack surface and the risk of lateral network movement.

Conclusion 

The SASE approach can simplify network management and security, save money, increase flexibility and performance, and improve security. Building your SASE infrastructure might be difficult, but by coordinating with your IT Solution provider and a SASE Vendor, you can avoid any potential issues.

To learn more about SASE and see if it is a fit solution for your organization, please contact us today! 

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