SASE is the end-to-end solution for maximizing business security

February 20, 2024

Working in Cloud environments offers companies many possibilities to innovate and grow, yet it also poses new network and security challenges with increased complexity related to workstations in a context of constantly changing location, connection, needs, or devices.

Companies need security solutions that meet these conditions and provide fast, secure, and uninterrupted access to their digital resources and assets for secure productivity.

Designed to secure the network at all levels, Security Service Edge (SSE) is the solution to protect enterprise resources in this changing context, safeguarding users, and data from malware cyber threats with a comprehensive strategy that combines flexibility, simplification, and consolidation of functions, resulting in a better security posture for the digital business.

✅ Telefónica Tech, together with Palo Alto Networks, is aware of these challenges and we offer our experience and specialization through the Telefónica Tech Security Edge solution →

What is SSE and SASE?

SSE is a security service under the Zero Trust paradigm designed to protect companies and employees against threats and data loss in hybrid and telework environments. It offers security with traditional security controls such as NGFW (Next-Generation Firewall), SWG (Secure Web Gateway) or Secure Remote Access consolidated on a single platform, and centrally managed to optimize the operation and management of security.

SASE is the SSE and SDWAN service integrated into a single service that is operated and managed from the service provider's Edge.

The SASE service model makes effective protection possible, making it easier for companies to secure their employees, data and digital assets regardless of their location, devices or connection.

It is therefore a transversal and comprehensive protection that does not rely on the perimeter of traditional enterprise networks but extends it by incorporating hybrid environments and remote access based on user identity and device context under a Zero Trust principle).

The key idea of SASE is to make access to the network and assets of digital enterprises dynamic, flexible and secure through a converged architecture and a comprehensive and centralized management based on a Zero Trust principle.

This issue is crucial, as the capacity of traditional IT infrastructures is overwhelmed by the demand for data and applications hosted in Cloud environments. SSE responds to this situation effectively by moving the point of security from physical locations to a cloud infrastructure, enabling in a hybrid architecture secure and efficient access to the resources needed for work, no matter where both the user and the information are located.

SASE also helps improve network performance by making applications and services accessible and running efficiently, even in distributed environments.

✅ SASE, and in particular SSE, is therefore a comprehensive solution that meets the security needs of enterprises, facilitating a smooth transition to the cloud and digitalization.

Adapting security strategies is important

The adoption of Cloud environments and new work models, hybrid or remote by companies, leads to increased exposure to cyber threats that evolve and change rapidly. This makes it necessary for digital companies to adopt an effective security strategy that can adapt to the new challenges of digitalization in an agile and rapid manner, ensuring business continuity.

The Zero Trust model of the SSE solution from Telefónica Tech and Palo Alto Networks applies a Zero Trust strategy for access to company resources. In this Zero Trust strategy, all identities -person or device- inside or outside the corporate network are authenticated and authorized before accessing corporate systems or applications, thus minimizing the risk of unauthorized access, lateral movement, or loss of information.

This strategy also limits the internal impact of a possible security incident.

This strategy not only protects against external threats, but also limits the internal impact of a potential security incident by verifying that only verified and authorized users can access corporate resources.

✅ SSE enables a consistent, centralized security policy that is applied uniformly across the organization, decreasing complexity, and improving security management.

✅ SASE provides a converged architecture and services that integrates security and cloud connectivity services, enabling comprehensive protection and secure access to enterprise resources.

Key benefits of SASE

It optimizes the user experience by improving application performance and network traffic efficiency through reduced latency and enhanced security.
It provides a comprehensive and unified view of network activity, making it easier to quickly identify and respond to threats.
It consolidates various security and network functions into a single service, including ZTNA (Zero Trust Network Access), DLP (Data Loss Prevention), malware protection, CASB (Cloud Access Security Broker) or SWG (Secure Web Gateway), resulting in significant time and resource savings.
It easily adapts to changing business needs without requiring major infrastructure modifications, offering both a flexible and scalable solution.
It strengthens defense against a wide range of threats and protects sensitive data, reducing the risk of cyberattacks.
It enables regulatory compliance with regulations such as GDPR and PCI DSS, ensuring data protection and privacy.
It generates valuable information about user behavior and network performance, optimizing decision making.
It saves costs by reducing the need for additional security hardware and software.
It enables optimal centralized connectivity and security for applications located in multiple locations through a distributed architecture.
It supports a wide range of devices, ensuring robust security and efficient traffic routing decisions for different applications and users.

Challenges in SASE implementation

There are many benefits to adopting SASE, but companies must carefully consider the challenges to ensure a successful transition. Its implementation is a significant change that requires detailed planning and strategy, including:

SASE can involve traditionally separate IT teams working more closely together, so it is essential to effectively integrate security and networking teams to take advantage of SASE.
Considering that SASE is a new and developing framework, there may be differences in vendor offerings, so it is essential to choose a vendor that provides a complete and integrated solution according to the specific needs of the company and offers specialized support.
Deployment requires reviewing and revising security and access policies, so companies must ensure that policies are dynamic and flexible, aligned with the Zero Trust strategy and able to respond to evolving cyber threats.
It may require changes or upgrades to the existing IT infrastructure, requiring careful assessment of the current infrastructure and planning for any modifications needed to support the SASE solution.

⚠️ Incorporating SASE into the enterprise IT infrastructure is an important step toward more efficient and adaptive security and network management.

Addressing these considerations and challenges enables enterprises to ensure a proper implementation that takes full advantage of the benefits of SASE.

✅ Telefónica Tech and Palo Alto Networks recommend that enterprises consider enlisting the advice of a partner with expertise in SASE, connectivity, and security services to define and adopt a SASE strategy.

Conclusion

SASE a significant change in the way the network is managed and secured in an increasingly cloud-centric environment.

As we have seen, it offers important advantages such as greater flexibility, resource optimization, simplification, and improved security posture, and is presented as the ideal solution for companies that want to strengthen their resilience.