SASE: Fleeting Security Trend or One with Cyber Staying Power

SASE: Fleeting Security Trend or One with Cyber Staying Power

Device endpoints are the new network perimeter. Thanks to the proliferation of remote teams, network access has gone from a centralized locale to a work-from-anywhere environment.

While it’s been great for employee wellbeing, security has taken a beating. It’s stretched IT teams thin, introducing a host of new, increasingly complicated security considerations to contend with.

Companies who want to stay safe as they adapt to a changing, mostly-remote workforce are getting more intentional about the cyber tools they use to keep their teams protected. At the top of that list: Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solutions.

Let’s Define SASE

To borrow from Gartner, Secure Access Service Edge or SASE (pronounced ‘sassy’), “is a new package of technologies including SD-WAN, SWG, CASB, ZTNA and FWaaS as core abilities, with the ability to identify sensitive data or malware and the ability to decrypt content at line speed, with continuous monitoring of sessions for risk and trust levels.”

The advanced security framework converges networking and network security, pairing it with cloud capabilities. In the age of digital transformation and a growing mobile workforce, it’s a powerful security solution that works from end to edge.

If organizational growth is on the agenda, SASE is a logical first step. Whether the goal is to increase your users, work with more data, or implement new applications and services, you’ll need to expand your security solutions as you expand your network perimeter.

As Skyhigh Security explains, even if your workforce is location agnostic, “network architectures are still designed such that everything must pass through a network perimeter and then back out. Users, regardless of where they are, must still channel back to the corporate network often using expensive and inefficient technologies only to go back to the outside world again more often, than not. This creates significant challenges in terms of service availability, user performance, and productivity.”

Before You Switch to SASE, Consider This…

There’s no reason to scrap your existing setup. Consider SASE as a building block you can gradually add to bolster your defenses while supporting a flexible workforce.

Once you’re ready to move forward, you can:

  • 1. Get clear on your particular business challenges. Is your issue more focused on improving the user experience or optimizing for a geographically diverse workforce? If you don’t know what your problem areas and goals are, how will you know if the solution has been effective?
  • 2. Identify leaders in the SASE space. The ideal resume would include expertise in cloud solutions, network technology, and all things security.
  • 3. Evaluate your options and ease in. Survey the provider’s partner ecosystem to ensure it’s a fit and take your time finding/implementing the right solution(s) for you at this moment. Trust that SASE technology will continue to evolve as your organization does.

There’s a reason Gartner, Inc. projects that at least 40% of all enterprises will have explicit strategies to adopt SASE by 2024. Think you might be one of them? Again, most experts recommend you consider going more gradually and integrating select security features into your existing network as you continue your digital transformation journey.

Content created and provided by ONEAFFINITI.