Much about technology has changed in the last few years, and cloud usage is no exception. With remote work becoming more popular, as well as organizations restructuring their IT cost models from CAPEX to OPEX, leveraging cloud applications, storage, and other solutions is even more common today. Even at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft saw 2 years of digital transformation happen over 2 months. With this transformation comes more technology that needs to be secured – information is constantly traveling to remote users or other locations, and coming back to the business network, allowing potential vulnerabilities to enter. It can be difficult to find an easy yet effective way to secure cloud technology. Secure Access Server Edge, or SASE, fills this void.
Secure Access Server Edge Defined
SASE is a term introduced by Gartner in 2019. While many people think SASE is a solution or tool, it is actually an architecture that you align to your cloud network.
SASE unifies network security and SD-WAN, as well as zero-trust security. It combines real-time context, business security and compliance policies and continuous assessment of risk within your network. It can monitor a variety of entities across your network, including individual users, groups of people (branch offices), devices, applications, services, internet of things (IoT) systems or edge computing locations.
Benefits of SASE
Beyond keeping your important business information protected, SASE has many benefits, from ease of use to potential savings and more.
- Flexibility: Since SASE is cloud based, you get the flexibility of the cloud to implement security policies across your network, such as web filtering, threat prevention and more.
- Cost Savings: If you currently have multiple solutions to secure your network, simplifying to one solution will likely save you money and technological resources. Additionally, the SASE framework is scalable just like any other cloud application.
- Complexity Reduction: As mentioned above, SASE allows you to simplify your cloud security to one architecture, which means your security and technology teams have one framework to protect your network, rather than juggling multiple (and potentially missing a vulnerability because of it).
- Zero Trust Integration: A Zero Trust approach to the cloud means no assumptions are made about safety of users, devices and applications connecting to your network. SASE provides protection whether a user is on or off the corporate network, from anywhere.
- Network Visibility: With in-depth inspection of branch offices, remote users and other elements that connect to your environment integrated into SASE, you will have more security and better visibility into your network.
- Data Protection: No matter where you or your employees are, SASE protects your sensitive data by preventing unapproved access to your network.
Simply put, SASE simplifies and streamlines your network security, offering flexibility in both work structure, and how you secure your network. Using this framework is a great way to ensure your cloud solutions are protected.
