Secure Access Service Edge (SASE, pronounced as “sassy”) is the new term coined by Gartner analysts.

Gartner’s The Future of Security Networks is in the Cloud report depicts SASE as “transformational,” which addresses traditional networking being concentrated into the cloud.

Digging the thoughts behind SASE

Before getting into the specifics of SASE, it’s necessary to understand the background of this newly defined security term.

The present scenario depicts the picture that the network approaches and security technologies existing today are not able to provide the level of security and access control that digital organizations need.

The recent security breaches justify that the security of small to large enterprises is at risk. And it’s time to fix the security network. Today organizations need immediate and uninterrupted access for their users, irrespective of their locations.

The fundamental issue that SASE addresses

The need for a cumulative approach is required due to an increase in remote users and SaaS applications. The data moving from the data center to cloud services has also increased in huge numbers. Today we are witnessing rapid changes in applications that naturally lead changes to network security. The measures that the security providers and tech giants follow are failing. All this calls for an evolution in the network security.

Gartner experts claim that network security architectures that put enterprise data center at the center of connectivity requirements are the primary obstacle to meet the dynamic access requirements of digital business.

SASE – logical evolution for network security

The core factors that drive cloud adoption are agility, elasticity, and omnipresence of the cloud. Cloud makes organizations more responsive to change while addressing their critical markets. The businesses have tried to bring SD-WAN devices, IPS appliances, firewalls, and numerous other solutions but ended up with unmanageable technology. That’s why the security needed a sassy solution.

What is Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)?

According to Gartner,

“The secure access service edge is an emerging offering combining comprehensive WAN capabilities with comprehensive network security functions (such as SWG, CASB, FWaaS, and ZTNA) to support the dynamic, secure access needs of digital enterprises.

SASE capabilities are delivered as a service-based upon the identity of the entity, real-time context, enterprise security/compliance policies, and continuous assessment of risk/trust throughout the sessions. Identities of entities can be associated with people, groups of people (branch offices), devices, applications, services, IoT systems, or edge computing locations.”

In the most simple words, SASE is clearly a convergence of wide-area networking (WAN), and security services like FWaaS, CASB, and Zero Trust; into a single, cloud-delivered service model. This shifts the focus data center to identities (or users) for access decisions. In the SASE model, the data centers will be served as a service like other cloud services that users and devices need access to.

Benefits of SASE:

Zero Trust: This approach, when followed in the cloud, removes trust assumptions to build the connection between users, devices, and applications. SASE solutions will offer overall session protection, no matter the user is on or off the enterprise network. Prevents data breach: SASE prevents unauthorized access and use of confidential information Cost Reduction: Utilizing an integrated platform rather than buying multiple products for security will significantly reduce your costs, and of course, IT resources. Flexibility: Cloud can help in delivering seamless security services such as DNS security, credential theft prevention, data loss prevention, threat prevention, and next-gen firewall policies. Better performance: SASE advocates bringing everything to the cloud so that the access to apps and other services is available globally.

SASE Representatives

Gartner included following vendors that are expected to compete to provide SASE: Akamai, Cato Networks, Cisco, Cloudflare, Forcepoit, Fortinet, McAfee, Netskope, Palo Alto Networks, Proofpoint, Symantec, Versa, VMware, and Zscaler.

The interesting fact is that Gartner does not consider major IaaS players (AWS, Azure, and GCP) competitive enough in the SASE market. The Gartner report mentioned that with the expansion in the edge-networking and security capabilities of these giants; they are expected to compete in this market in the next five years or so.

Conclusion

For a long time now, the cybersecurity industry uses multiple vendors, point products, and a vast number of technologies. To consolidate that and make it less complicated, the future of network security finds its way only to the cloud (until unless any other alien technology is not developed).

Gartner analysts Neil MacDonald, Lawrence Orans, and Joe Skorupa deserves all the applause for the report. The report is surely catching eyebrows and may change the tides in the security ocean.

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