To adapt to telecommuting, organizations had to revamp their infrastructures, integrate versatile cloud-powered components, and add new software. With that, they had to increase the possible points that a hacker can target within their infrastructures.
Regardless, the entire network needs to be protected against a possible cyber attack. This has been a challenge for companies that have built complex cloud-based infrastructures.
The shift to remote work reshaped not only how companies operate but also encouraged many to take cybersecurity more seriously — regardless of the size of a company.
But how do you secure the valuable assets of an organization, its customers, and its employees?
One solution designed to close the gaps in the security for businesses that went remote is Secure Access Service Edge — also known as SASE.
How do both businesses and their employees working from home benefit from this cloud-based platform?
#1 Improved Productivity of Remote Workers
For companies with a global remote workforce, it’s important that their employees can securely, easily, and rapidly access resources within the network.
Painfully slow network access affects both the user experience and the productivity of employees. If they can’t access all the resources they need, it takes longer to complete daily tasks
Since it’s cloud-based, SASE reduces lag that many remote networks would otherwise have when connecting to remote systems and accessing the files they require for work.
Besides being fast, access to the network should also be secure. SASE uses AI to triple-check access policies based on the identity of an employee. As a result, it confirms that the user is genuine and not a threat actor that has stolen credentials.
This facilitates the onboarding process, which is completed with SASE in a more cyber-protected way.
Stronger security means that employees can reach resources more easily — since the company can grant them access via centralized management.
#2 United Platform Reduces Complexity of Security
SASE is a security tool that combines versatile cybersecurity solutions in one place. Each of them is integral for the protection of companies that heavily rely on the cloud. Some of them are:
- Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)
- Firewall as a Service (FWaaS)
- Advanced Threat Prevention
- Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
Since the capabilities of these tools are united in a single user-friendly platform, this means that the management of the security is less complex.
Security teams that are already understaffed and overworked benefit from this the most. Instead of analyzing findings that are coming from multiple separate tools, they can get a sense of how the security posture holds up from a single dashboard.
Also, they can read a report that showcases potential critical risks for a company and start with the most pressing tasks first.
Besides fully remote companies, the security SASE offers is important for hybrid businesses that allow workers to bring their own devices to work. The BYOD policy comes with its own administrative and security challenges for a company.
The capabilities of SASE, such as ZTNA and multi-factor authentication, form safe access for employees regardless of the device they use to connect to the company’s network.
#3 No Security Gaps For Scaling Companies
SASE makes cyber protection more comprehensive. With it, security teams don’t have to operate with multiple siloed security tools. The solution is also designed to cover the entire attack surface — every part of the network that can be targeted with a cyber attack.
Weaknesses in security that are not discovered in time (before they escalate into incidents) cost companies the most.
Cloud-based infrastructures change in minutes — meaning vulnerabilities can appear at any time. That requires continual monitoring and management of the security posture.
Even within the ever-growing attack surfaces, security teams have to patch up weaknesses as soon as possible.
SASE uses artificial intelligence to streamline processes such as threat hunting and data analysis. This means it can uncover high-risk threats in time as well as alert the teams.
For example, SASE can revoke access for employees that are no longer working in the company and, with it, prevent them from misusing their access or retaliating.
#4 Lower Cost of Security For Companies
Managing infrastructures and their security on-premises has been a major cost for traditional companies. Cloud changed that by offering a more flexible, scalable, and cost-effective solution for companies worldwide.
Having a cloud-powered SASE solution means that you can cut down on the cost of:
- Overhead management — since you need fewer professionals to manage security
- Hardware that you would need for on-premise infrastructure
- Possible data breach recovery
SASE’s focus on data protection and restriction of access also means that companies are protected against possible data leaks.
Data breaches are known to cost companies 4.35 million U.S. dollars on average. Robust security and tools such as a SASE can alert you of possible unauthorized access early. And prevent the high financial and reputational cost of this incident.
Moreover, SASE is based on the pay-as-you-go model. Companies can invest more and more in security as they grow and add more people and software to their infrastructure.
Security Made Simple With SASE
SASE is a cybersecurity solution that operates on the cloud. It was created to seamlessly solve the unique challenges that companies have today — such as data breaches and cloud misconfiguration.
Since it relies on artificial intelligence and combines the functionality of multiple different tools, this unified platform consolidates cybersecurity management in real-time.
As a result, whether you need a more streamlined solution to protect the sensitive data of your employees, faster network access, or want to scale the cloud, SASE can facilitate such processes.