Maxwell Alles, CEO, Alles Technology.
It’s been called the Swiss Army knife of cybersecurity—and with good reason. Throughout the industry, secure access service edge (SASE) has become the preferred choice for secure remote access, overtaking the long-standing and go-to solution of virtual private networks (VPNs).
At a time when remote work and cloud-based applications have become the norm, it is more important than ever for companies to deploy as much protection as they can against the increased risk of data being stolen and compromised.
The U.S. Agency for International Development, for instance, reports that the global cost of cybercrime is “larger than the national economies of all but two countries—the United States and the People’s Republic of China”—and is expected to grow to as much as $23.84 trillion a year by 2027. IBM confirms these rising costs and also finds that 40% of data breaches involve data stored across multiple environments.
So how can business leaders take advantage of everything SASE offers to increase security, reduce complexity and minimize a company’s threat landscape?
The Cloud
While VPNs are relatively easy to set up and manage, they were designed with a centralized network in mind.
But with increasing numbers of employees logging on to various devices across the office, at home and on the road, the entry points for hackers continue to expand. I find that SASE architecture is better equipped to handle the complexities of today’s distributed networks, cloud services and remote work environments.
Distributed Networks
SASE offers similar accessibility to VPNs. It supplies secure network access to employees whether they’re in the physical office, working from home or in a hotel room. Because of its cloud-based approach, SASE also tends to scale more readily, thereby enabling huge numbers of remote users to be added without frequent infrastructure upgrades.
VPN connections can slow down internet speeds due to data encryption and the routing of traffic through a central data center. It’s a bottleneck that can hinder productivity, especially when accessing cloud-based applications or large files. SASE, on the other hand, connects users to the nearest PoP (point of presence), which accelerates access to applications.
Zero Trust
VPNs protect the connection, but they don’t scrutinize traffic for malicious content. SASE, however, delivers a network security framework that embraces numerous functions, including zero-trust network access, firewall-as-a-service, cloud access security brokers and secure web gateways.
If your business operates in industries that have strict data rules and regulations, such as finance and healthcare, SASE can work within a zero-trust framework, which assumes that no user or device should be trusted by default. Every connection attempt must be verified. Applying consistent security procedures across all devices and users helps ensure compliance with legal requirements.
Steps To Transition From A VPN To SASE
What initial steps should you take to evaluate if transitioning from VPN to SASE aligns with your security and operational needs?
1. First, assess the security of your network infrastructure. Map your system and your network architecture, including all endpoints, applications and connections. You can then better identify security gaps, even simulating potential attack vectors to help identify weak points.
2. Next, check it to see if your employees’ connections are as fast as you need. Again, with a VPN, you’re often limited by the speed of the internet connection at your location. Test using data-heavy tasks like video conferencing, large file transfers or accessing of cloud applications.
3. Prioritize a system that uses multifactor authentication before someone can access their account.
4. Finally, double-check if you have a backup VPN connection should your firewall go down through a power outage or other cause.
Choosing An SASE Provider
Here are some key considerations when selecting a SASE provider, particularly for businesses with complex or heavily regulated environments:
• Integrations: Does the provider integrate with your current identity provider, Active Directory, Google Suite, Microsoft Entra, etc.?
• Features: Do they provide the features needed to accomplish your security goals and meet your regulatory requirements?
• Security and compliance: Do they meet your regulatory requirements when it comes to security certification such as ISO 27001and SOC 2, and how do they protect your data across their cloud networks?
Tackling Potential Roadblocks
When deploying an SASE solution, various potential challenges and roadblocks need to be tackled upfront.
• Before deployment, be sure to configure all integrations to your requirements so as to avoid a changing and challenging experience for end users.
• Test implementation and deployment with a small subset of users in parallel with your current VPN solution. This way, you can ensure users retain access to the tools and services they need to accomplish their job.
• Prepare documentation for staff on how to connect to the new solution and any key differences in how it will affect their workflow. A video guide can help immensely.
• Identify key users or departments to have support ready for any issues that impact their work.
The Way Forward
For organizations that need a straightforward solution to secure remote access, VPNs might still do the trick. However, for businesses looking for a comprehensive, flexible solution that can grow and adapt to an ever-changing digital landscape, SASE represents a forward-thinking choice.
Companies that have transitioned to SASE, small and large, typically have found dramatically reduced network complexity, improved ease of use and reduced time to manage and upkeep the solution.
VPNs have served us well and continue to be a viable option for many, but I believe the wave of digital transformation sweeping across industries suggests that the future belongs to SASE.
Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
Read the full article here
