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Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) is a cloud-native framework that combines networking and security into one unified service. This article will explain what is SASE, its main components, and why it’s important for modern businesses.
Secure Access Service Edge, or SASE, represents a paradigm shift in network security by combining SD-WAN with a variety of security functions into a single, cloud-native architecture. This integration aims to simplify management, reduce complexity, and offer dynamic, scalable, and unified access and protection across modern IT environments. Unlike traditional security setups that rely on multiple, often disparate solutions, SASE security converges network and security functions into a unified cloud service, making it both agile and cost-effective.
The importance of SASE cannot be overstated in today’s digital age. It addresses the emerging security and connectivity demands of complex IT environments by providing a globally distributed network that ensures secure connections and enhanced security across diverse enterprise resources. SASE alleviates the burden of infrastructure maintenance for IT teams, enabling a focus on strategic initiatives and transforming organizational approaches to network security.
The SASE architecture is composed of several key components that collectively enhance security and connectivity. These components include Secure Web Gateway (SWG), Firewall as a Service (FWaaS), Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), and Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN).
Each of these technologies plays a critical role in the SASE framework, ensuring comprehensive security services and streamlined IT operations, including a robust security service.
Secure Web Gateway (SWG) is a vital component of the SASE architecture, responsible for filtering web traffic and enforcing security policies. It includes functionalities such as URL filtering, SSL decryption, application control, and threat detection and prevention. SWG safeguards users from web-borne threats such as malware and phishing, ensuring secure web access and bolstering network security functions. Secure web gateways enhance the overall security posture of organizations.
In a world where web-based threats are constantly evolving, SWG provides consistent security policies across all web interactions. This not only protects the network edge but also ensures that security teams can manage and respond to threats more effectively through edge computing.
The integration of SWG within the SASE framework offers a holistic security solution, merging security capabilities with network performance to provide a seamless user experience.
Firewall as a Service (FWaaS) is a cloud-based security model that provides firewall capabilities without the need for physical hardware. This approach eliminates the need for legacy appliance-based firewalls, offering scalable security solutions that can adapt to organizational needs. FWaaS includes advanced features like application-aware protection and threat detection, ensuring consistent security across all access points.
Connecting distributed sites to a global FWaaS allows organizations to enhance their security posture without the need for additional hardware investments. Dynamic firewalls within the FWaaS framework offer comprehensive content analysis, enhancing overall security coverage. This cloud-delivered service ensures that security policies are uniformly enforced, providing robust protection for all network traffic.
Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) is a critical component in the SASE framework, providing security for cloud application usage. Positioned between users and cloud applications, CASB enforces security policies and offers cloud-discovery analysis to ensure visibility and control over user activities and sensitive data. This is particularly important for data loss prevention (DLP) in SaaS repositories. Cloud access security brokers play a vital role in this process.
CASB simplifies SASE network and security management by allowing monitoring and management from a single pane of glass. SASE providers must comply with relevant standards and regulations. This is particularly crucial in regulated industries. CASB consistently applies security policies across all cloud resources, thereby enhancing the overall security posture of organizations.
Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) is essential for an identity-driven SASE framework. At its core, ZTNA operates on the principle that no entity is inherently trusted, requiring constant verification before granting access. This approach emphasizes continuous verification of trust, ensuring that application access is controlled based on user and device identity.
ZTNA provides secure and granular access per user, which improves security and scalability. ZTNA enforces identity-based and application-based policies, ensuring secure access to applications and data. This continuous verification and inspection of user access enhance security across all network connections.
Explore practical steps to adopt Zero Trust effectively.
Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) is a key component of SASE, connecting branch locations and data centers to the SASE cloud service. SD-WAN solutions feature dynamic path selection, self-healing WAN capabilities, and application and user experience consistency. These features enhance connectivity by supporting various connection types, including MPLS, 3G/4G, broadband, and sd wans.
While SD-WAN optimizes and manages network connections, it may lack key security functions compared to the full SASE security framework. However, when integrated into SASE, SD-WAN contributes to a secure and optimized network performance, ensuring that mobile access and network management are effectively handled.
Implementing SASE offers several benefits, including enhanced security, reduced complexity, and cost savings. SASE security consolidates security functions into a unified cloud platform, offering comprehensive threat protection, streamlined vendor management, and reduced operational costs.
Each of these benefits will be explored in detail in the following subsections.
SASE enhances security by integrating various security tools into a unified cloud platform, improving data protection at the network edge. This consistent security model is crucial for companies utilizing SaaS and public cloud services. SASE eliminates gaps and vulnerabilities by consolidating security functions, ensuring comprehensive threat prevention and data protection across all environments.
AI and ML-based security features in SASE significantly improve threat detection, offering real-time protection against emerging threats. High-performance inspection and advanced threat detection capabilities, such as those provided by Firewall as a Service (FWaaS), further enhance security. Integrating other security components with SASE aims at achieving a holistic security stance.
SASE significantly reduces complexity by consolidating networking and security functions into a single, cloud-delivered service. Traditional network and security models are typically compartmentalized, leading to inefficiencies and increased administrative burdens. SASE offers a comprehensive and converged approach, simplifying network and security management.
Centralized management in SASE provides a centralized and unified management dashboard for monitoring and managing distributed networks. This streamlined operation facilitates cloud migration and enhances operational efficiency, allowing IT teams to focus on strategic initiatives rather than simplified management of multiple tools.
Overall, SASE optimizes performance and security for branch locations, ensuring consistent policies and simplified network management.
SASE implementation leads to significant reductions in hardware costs, allowing businesses to spend less on infrastructure. Operating on a subscription-based model, SASE creates predictable and manageable costs for businesses. By streamlining vendor management and minimizing both capital and operational expenditures, SASE reduces overall expenses.
The financial impact of SASE implementation is substantial, as it consolidates multiple tools into a single platform, reducing the need for managing multiple vendors. This not only simplifies management but also leads to improved security management and operational efficiency.
SASE enhances global connectivity by linking users directly to a global network, reducing latency and improving access speeds. By extending SD-WAN to address full WAN transformation, including security, cloud, and mobility, SASE offers advanced scalability and adaptability.
Each of these working principles will be explored in the following subsections.
Zero trust architecture is implemented in SASE. It enforces secure access controls for cloud applications along with physical network security. SASE provides visibility of users, data, and applications across all locations and clouds, which is crucial for effective security management. A Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) delivers user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) to enforce security policies based on unusual traffic patterns, enhancing identity-driven access control.
SASE architecture facilitates remote access to organizational applications and data for remote users regardless of their location, ensuring consistent security enforcement. This identity-driven security approach ensures that only authorized users have access to corporate resources to sensitive data, enhancing overall network security.
Cloud-native architecture is critical for leveraging the full potential of SASE. The architecture of SASE allows for scalability to grow with business needs and requires minimal hardware investments. Cloud-based points of presence (PoPs) help minimize data travel distance, speed up connectivity, and ensure consistent cloud traffic performance.
Cato Networks simplifies networking and security delivery with built-in capabilities, eliminating the need for sizing, scaling, or maintenance. This cloud-native design ensures that SASE can adapt to changing demands quickly and efficiently, providing a seamless user experience for both remote and on-premise users.
Centralized management in SASE simplifies policy enforcement across a distributed network environment. An effective SASE solution should provide a user-friendly interface for monitoring and managing network resources. SASE simplifies the process of integrating cloud assets by allowing IT teams to manage security controls from a single dashboard.
This unified management approach enhances user experience by providing integrated digital experience monitoring for remote workers. By consolidating monitoring into one platform, SASE offers better correlation of events, simplifying management while improving overall network performance and security, and reducing the risk of a poor user experience. IT teams can spend more time on business-specific projects rather than on management, scaling, and upgrading multiple on-premise solutions.
SASE is pivotal for connecting and securing remote and branch offices, ensuring consistent security and performance. By integrating networking and security services into a unified cloud service, SASE effectively addresses the needs of modern IT environments and the enterprise network.
The following sections will explore specific use cases where SASE proves to be particularly beneficial.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of SASE. This was driven by the increased demand for secure networking solutions for remote workforces. Organizations employing SASE can manage access, security, and bandwidth more effectively for remote workers, providing scalability, elasticity, and enhanced threat monitoring.
SASE supports application performance through an optimized cloud-based framework, delivering application-specific performance for remote workers. By incorporating Zero Trust principles, SASE ensures improved security for hybrid workforces, allowing for consistent security policies and enhanced network performance regardless of location.
SASE enforces consistent policies and applies Zero Trust to enhance data security for branch and remote locations. It addresses performance and security challenges for organizations using SaaS and public cloud services, providing a unified approach to security and performance.
For branch and retail environments, SASE offers a comprehensive security solution that ensures secure network access and consistent application of security policies. This unified approach simplifies network management and enhances the overall security posture of branch offices.
SASE enables seamless and secure connectivity, which is crucial for cloud and digital transformation efforts. With SASE, organizations can achieve secure and efficient connectivity while migrating to the cloud, eliminating the limitations of hardware-based approaches through security consolidation and integrated services.
SASE supports the adoption of public and private clouds by providing secure access to cloud applications and resources, ensuring consistent security policies and enhanced performance. This approach not only enhances security but also optimizes network performance for cloud secure initiatives.
Fidelis Security offers a range of integrated products designed to enhance network security within the SASE framework. By integrating solutions like Fidelis Network and Fidelis Deception, Fidelis Security provides comprehensive network and security services enhancements.
These SASE solutions are designed to enhance security for organizations by integrating advanced threat protection and response capabilities.
While Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) consolidates networking and security into a single cloud-native service, it doesn’t operate in isolation. In fact, one of the emerging best practices is to pair SASE with Network Detection and Response (NDR) for complete visibility and threat detection across the enterprise.
SASE solutions focus on secure access and optimized connectivity. However, they often lack the deep network traffic analysis and behavioral inspection capabilities required to detect advanced threats or lateral movement within the environment. That’s where NDR comes in.
Network Detection and Response (NDR) continuously monitors internal and external traffic, using AI-driven analytics to detect anomalies, policy violations, or signs of data exfiltration that a traditional SASE architecture might miss. Integrating SASE and NDR allows organizations to:
By combining secure access from SASE with deep packet inspection and behavior analytics from NDR, enterprises achieve a full-spectrum security approach that’s proactive, adaptive, and far more resilient.
Discover how combining NDR with SASE strengthens your security infrastructure. In this webinar, you’ll learn how to:
Selecting the right SASE provider is crucial for ensuring secure access service edge and effective network security solutions. A strategic SASE platform supports current and future IT project requirements, helping organizations adapt to changing demands. When selecting SASE solutions, prioritize those that seamlessly integrate with current tools to avoid disruptions.
A good SASE provider will have a significant global presence, reducing latency and ensuring fast access to network resources. Financially backed service level agreements (SLAs) indicate a provider’s commitment to uptime, reliability, and performance.
Utilizing pilot programs or phased rollouts can help reduce risk during SASE deployment.
SASE, or Secure Access Service Edge, integrates SD-WAN and security functions into a unified, cloud-native framework, enhancing security and connectivity for users and devices across networks. This approach optimizes performance while maintaining robust security measures.
SASE enhances security by integrating multiple security functions into a single cloud platform, ensuring consistent threat prevention and data protection across diverse environments. This unified approach strengthens overall security posture.
The key components of SASE are Secure Web Gateway (SWG), Firewall as a Service (FWaaS), Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), and Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN). Each element plays a crucial role in enhancing security and network performance in a cloud-centric environment.
SASE enhances hybrid workforces by delivering scalable security solutions that ensure consistent policies and optimized network performance for remote employees, alongside advanced threat monitoring capabilities. This approach allows organizations to maintain robust security and performance regardless of where their workforce is located.
Selecting the appropriate SASE provider is essential for ensuring robust network security, minimizing latency, and facilitating quick access to resources. A reliable provider will also guarantee seamless integration with existing tools and strong performance commitments through backed SLAs.
See Fidelis in action. Learn how our fast and scalable platforms provide full visibility, deep insights, and rapid response to help security teams across the World protect, detect, respond, and neutralize advanced cyber adversaries.