Streamlining network security with secure access service edge

By Mohannad Abuissa, Head of Engineering at Cisco Middle East & Africa

Imagine juggling multiple remotes for your entertainment system, each controlling a different device and requiring endless button presses to achieve a basic task. This is what managing a complex network security landscape can feel like—a jumble of disparate solutions, each demanding your attention and contributing to confusion. It’s no surprise that security has emerged as the top networking concern for IT leaders and professionals around the world, according to Cisco’s 2024 Global Networking Trends Report.

The rise of hybrid work, multicloud adoption, and more sophisticated cyberthreats have created a security landscape that traditional, siloed solutions simply cannot keep pace with. This leaves organizations vulnerable, jeopardizing the security of their data, applications, and user trust.

This is where convergence comes in. It’s just like having a single, universal remote for your entertainment system.

Secure access service edge (SASE) is this “universal remote” for your network security. It offers a converged approach that combines networking and security into a single cloud-delivered service, helping ensure easy and secure access to your data and applications. Bringing security closer to the user and the cloud edge allows you to enjoy comprehensive protection regardless of the user’s location or access point.

However, adopting SASE can feel like navigating a maze. Different vendors, complex integrations, and lengthy implementation times can leave you feeling lost. That’s why networking companies that understand the need to simplify their customers’ SASE journeys provide unified management platforms.

These integrated solutions offer centralized control and oversight of both networking and security functions, significantly reducing operational complexity and saving IT resources. This comprehensive control enhances decision making, streamlines workflows, and ensures a cohesive security posture across the entire network infrastructure.

Let’s explore how a unified management platform empowers you to address common security challenges:

 Securing branch offices and internet software-as-a-service (SaaS) traffic: Branch offices and roaming users are particularly vulnerable to cyberthreats, especially with the growing adoption of direct internet access (DIA). Seamless integration extends robust cloud security across your entire software-defined wide-area network (SD-WAN) fabric, protecting branch offices and users accessing internet- and cloud-based applications.
 Promoting zero-trust security: A unified management platform requires rigorous verification for every access attempt. This continuous monitoring approach ensures only authorized users and devices can gain access to critical resources. By leveraging segmentation and micro-segmentation, you can effectively isolate critical network segments and resources, significantly reducing the attack surface and hindering unauthorized access.
 Rapid deployment: Through the automation framework, you can deploy secure connectivity for hundreds or even thousands of branch sites within minutes. This eliminates the need for complex, time-consuming manual configurations.
 Streamlined onboarding: Streamlined purchasing process not only makes license acquisition a breeze but also automatically initiates the creation of tenant spaces tailored for your organization. This pivotal feature represents a significant value-add, transitioning you smoothly from the acquisition phase to operational readiness.

In addition to simplifying your security stack, integrated SASE solutions provide several other advantages:

 Enhanced security: Unified management platforms offer a comprehensive suite of security features, including secure web gateway (SWG), cloud access security broker (CASB), data loss prevention (DLP), zero-trust network access (ZTNA), firewall-as-a-service (FWaaS), and intrusion prevention system (IPS).
 Addressing converged networking and security needs at scale: Robust SASE architectures can be deployed on top of your existing routers for high-throughput branch sites.
 Distributed security enforcement: This model allows you to tailor your security posture to specific needs and manage demanding network traffic with robust defense against cyberthreats.
 Operational efficiency: Policy-based routing and automated failover minimize complexity and ensure seamless operation.
 Enhanced user experience: Roaming users can benefit from consistent, unwavering security regardless of location.
 Unparalleled agility: You can scale security effortlessly to adapt to your evolving environment, enabling rapid and flexible responses to changing demands.
 Unparalleled network visibility and troubleshooting: Integration optimizes traffic flow, enhances digital experience assurance, and ensures robust connectivity.
 Always ahead of threats: Threat intelligence delivers real-time insights that identify, correlate, and remediate threats at exceptional speed.

Unified management platforms unlock a simple, secure, and scalable path to SASE by merging the best of networking and security into a single solution that delivers a cohesive experience for IT and users alike. This powerful combination allows you to enjoy unmatched security with consistent protection across your network.