Today’s increasingly open and distributed network environments require a complete overhaul of their security strategy. Indeed, the hybridization of work leads more and more employees to access the network from their homes or remote sites. Applications are now highly distributed and no longer reside only on-premise, but in multiple third-party cloud environments.
A change that can also be found in the flow patterns of information/data. Instead of clear traffic patterns, the multitude of applications and users, coupled with the successive waves of digitization that enterprises have experienced, have made it more complex to control network usage. In this context, siled security strategies are no longer viable. The need for control and security has moved to the network edge, and that’s where the SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) comes in.
The combination of a SASE and Zero Trust approach
SASE is a good way to illustrate and explain the paradigm shift that is happening and how companies are currently rethinking their security architectures. Networks are going to need more edge security, and the best way to do that is to build that security into the system itself.
A SASE approach combines existing technologies, but approaches and orchestrates them in a different way. In other words, the key components of a SASE architecture are a software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) infrastructure to which we add network access control based on the principle of Zero Trust (ZTNA).
Zero Trust is closely related to SD-WAN technology. Adopting network access control based on this notion of zero trust when building a SASE architecture enables a level of integration between network and security that has never been achieved. previously. In other words, where previously security was an additional layer on top of the network infrastructure, with SASE security is built in.
A key principle of zero trust is that of “least privilege”, which is to manage access to all of a company’s assets. It allows giving the user access only to what he needs to work. In a company, a user has access only to the information necessary to carry out his mission, regardless of his level of security clearance or his other privileges. This approach, if implemented correctly, i.e. applied at any point in the corporate network, from the corporate campus to the remote offices to the teleworkplace, reduces significantly the attack surface and exposure to potential threats.
Another common practice in network environments with Zero Trust access is to use identity, both user and device, not only to specifically grant access to resources and applications, but also to segment users. , groups and applications in small (micro or hyper) segments. Segmentation further limits exposure and prevents threats from moving laterally within the network.
Implementing a Zero Trust model tends to allow users to work efficiently and not hamper day-to-day operations. If user needs aren’t met and security is layered on top of the solution rather than built into it, the system won’t work, even if the company’s security posture is strong. . On the other hand, a solution integrated into the system, which takes into account the needs of the user, will increase the productivity of the collaborators and will facilitate the adoption of this security strategy. In this context, “Zero Trust” solutions and architectures that provide a user-centric approach are most beneficial.
I am convinced that it is possible to build a SASE network environment and that a SASE architecture is necessary to provide security and secure access differently at the network level. There are many ways to implement a SASE architecture. In this context, customized solutions will be required to meet the specific needs of businesses and industries, some of which will require complete ecosystems for such a setup to work properly.