The network security landscape is constantly evolving. New technologies and services are introduced all the time.
A SASE solution integrates networking and security services into a single platform. It offers a full range of security capabilities, including Zero Trust Access Control, SWG, CASB, and FWaaS in one framework. It also delivers reduced costs through platform consolidation.
Zero Trust Access Control
SASE solutions for worldwide cybersecurity offer a powerful way to simplify network management and strengthen defenses against evolving threats. Combining SD-WAN capabilities with essential security services like FWaaS, CASB, and SWG into a unified architecture, SASE reduces complexity for IT teams and improves overall performance. Additionally, SASE platforms equip organizations with advanced threat-prevention tools to safeguard users regardless of location.
Leading SASE tools support branch office, remote worker, and on-premises secure access use cases. They rely on zero-trust principles that grant access only when an entity is verified as authentic and trusted based on identity, geolocation, device posture, and real-time context.
While there are many robust options, finding the best SASE tool requires careful consideration of an organization’s specific operational realities and cybersecurity needs. To achieve success, it is critical to have robust deployment and support resources on board. To minimize deployment and operations challenges, organizations should start small, continually educate staff, and regularly review and adapt their approach. These steps will ensure they can sustainably protect their data, applications, and users. In addition, they will be able to maintain operational efficiency and promote a strong culture of security throughout the organization.
Zero Trust Network Access
As the workforce becomes increasingly distributed, it’s important that remote workers can work wherever they are. But it’s also essential that these workers’ devices, networks, and data remain secure. This is where SASE comes in.
SASE systems integrate security and networking features into a single cloud-delivered solution. The technology is designed to connect users, applications, and devices in a way that’s different from traditional VPNs. This model is intended to lower the danger of cyberattacks while improving user experience.
A SASE solution combines firewall as a service, secure web gateway, threat prevention, and Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) into a unified security architecture. This reduces the number of vendors IT teams have to interact with and allows for more straightforward configuration and troubleshooting.
SASE solutions are great for enterprises looking to improve user experiences and security. But, as with any technology, there are some things to remember when evaluating a SASE solution. Ensure you can grow with your company and integrate with your current infrastructure. It would help if you also like a solution with transparent pricing and simple deployment.
Cloud Access Security Broker
Cloud access security brokers (CASBs) are tools that protect organizations from cybersecurity risks in the cloud by enforcing security policies. They monitor data flow to and from an organization and cloud vendors, allowing them to detect and respond to threats like unauthorized access, malware, ransomware, and more.
The best CASB solutions also feature advanced technologies to secure cloud platforms, such as detecting and remedying security vulnerabilities. These include the ability to classify each cloud app according to its security risk level, which allows businesses to create tailored policies. They can also automatically fix these issues, reducing the chance of a breach.
CASBs can also help organizations safely enable sanctioned and unsanctioned SaaS apps, addressing shadow IT. The CASB solution can also monitor cloud usage by users and identify abnormal behavior, such as downloading company information to personal devices. Moreover, it can provide security intelligence to inform decision-making and reduce the impact of a cyberattack. This is why CASB is one of the most commonly integrated SASE solutions, with firewall-as-a-service, secure web gateway, and zero trust network access control.
Firewall-as-a-Service
Firewalls are membranes that filter traffic into and out of an organization’s spaces. These firewalls inspect incoming and outgoing data to identify and block malicious entrants and enforce custom rules that IT administrators set up on their networks.
Managing these complex configurations and security functions can take considerable time for IT teams. A managed firewall service can help reduce this workload by handling important management tasks such as firewall transitions, policy migration, and security protection consolidation.
FWaaS utilizes cloud-based technologies to deliver on-demand network security capabilities. This eliminates the need for companies to purchase and deploy physical firewall appliances and enables IT to enforce their corporate security policies from one central location. FWaaS solutions also scale elastically to handle SSL inspection, growing bandwidth demands, and cloud application traffic with long-lived connections. This centralized management helps organizations ensure that all users receive identical protection across the entire network, regardless of where they connect, including remote offices and mobile devices. It also frees up IT staff to focus on other business-critical initiatives.
Secure Web Gateway
Securing web access from anywhere becomes an organizational challenge, with remote work ruling the enterprise ecosystem. Secure Web Gateways (SWG) deliver granular control for on-prem and cloud environments, enabling workers to securely authenticate and use web apps across all devices, wherever they are located.
SWGs inspect, identify, and apply security policies for all internet-bound traffic and data, protecting users, applications, and organizations from threats that can lead to lateral movement or data loss. They also protect against malware infections by blocking downloads from unrated hosts and sites with suspicious reputations or behavior.
An essential function of SWG is to prevent shadow IT by identifying and managing unsanctioned web-based applications on endpoints, such as file sharing and cloud data storage tools. This is critical as Gartner reports that unsanctioned and unmanaged apps create 70% of a typical organization’s surface.
SWGs can be integrated with CASB and zero trust network access (ZTNA) as part of a comprehensive SASE solution that provides a consistent and unified platform for protection in the cloud, on-prem, or remote locations. This reduces complexity and enables teams to achieve security convergence through best-in-class integrated best-of-breed network security capabilities.
