From Castles to Clouds: The new reign of SASE

Castles held many valuable things during the Middle Ages – jewels, documents, family heirlooms. So, it was crucial to keep your property safe and secure. And it was rare to see a castle without a moat, providing a secure ring around the perimeter, making sure no intruders could get in, and keeping everything in that area safe and protected. It was an ideal solution.

Fast forward a couple hundred years.

A lot of our valuable information has moved “off property.” More and more employees are working remotely following the COVID-19 pandemic and relying on the cloud for remote access. That means data is accessible from a wide range of company and personal devices. Along with this freedom of anywhere, anytime access from any device, comes increased security threats. Not the same threats faced by the Game of Thrones crowd, but just as significant, nonetheless.?

How do you stay secure in a highly distributed world?

Thankfully, new methods and frameworks to approach network security are emerging. One category that is garnering a lot of attention brings together multiple network and security technologies, including: software-defined wide-area network (SD-WAN), firewall-as-a-service, secure web gateway, cloud access security broker, and zero trust network access. It’s known as “secure access service edge” (SASE).?

In our increasingly distributed world, SASE places network controls closer to the user at the cloud edge, as opposed to the corporate data center. This approach allows organizations to apply secure access no matter where their users, applications or devices are located.

How can a cloud-based security model help your business?

Simplification

Think about where we have been for the past decade – to get the right protection for your business, you may have needed a variety of different providers that covered many appliances or software. More security meant more complexity and slower performance. But with SASE, you can consolidate vendors and cut complexity, making the solution not only more secure, but also more efficient.?

Flexibility

When you have a cloud-based solution, functionality is automatically updated, eliminating the need for IT administrators to create new security controls with each change or update. And, you can easily implement different security services, such as threat detection and response, endpoint security and network security.

Leading Edge Technology

Implementing the latest technology solutions helps you support your customers in the most innovative ways possible, while simplifying the process for yourself.?

Security virtualization allows for faster changes on an as-needed basis, so you don’t have to spend time rewriting your policies and updating your firewalls. SASE can help you simplify and stay current while supporting your customers.?

How do I take advantage of SASE offerings?

According to the global research and advisory firm Gartner: “The vast majority of enterprise SASE adoption will occur over several years, prioritizing areas of greatest opportunity in terms of cost savings, eliminating complexity and redundant vendors, and risk reduction through adoption of a zero-trust secure posture.”

SASE is not a “flip-the-switch” solution, businesses should start developing a roadmap for the adoption of SASE capabilities and offerings.

As one of largest managed security providers and?the world’s?largest?SD-WAN?provider, AT&T is in?a great position?to care for the evolving security needs of our customers. We are ready and able to meet the diverse requirements of your business.??

And a 21st Century moat can make all the difference.

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