Describing the basis of SASE and clarifying the difference it has with SDWAN

1. Secure Access Service Edge
Haris Chughtai
Mar 2021
SASE

2. HARIS CHUGHTAI
SASE – Secure Access Service Edge
 Term coined by Gartner for a converged Network &
Security platform
 SASE = Network + Security
 Referred as Secure Network access to Cloud as well as
on-prem resources to all users (fixed as well as mobile)
 SASE is delivered as a service, minimizing or eliminating
the need for specialized hardware or security appliances
 Though SASE can be applicable to organization’s
resources in Private/Public Cloud resources, Remote
offices & endpoints, however mostly it is applicable to
Remote Sites, Mobile & IOT devices
 Key benefits brought by SASE includes agility, cost
effectiveness and consistent security
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"Instead of the security perimeter being entombed in a box at
the data center edge, the perimeter is now everywhere an
enterprise needs it to be — a dynamically created, policy-based
secure access service edge."
Gartner, D G00441737 “The Future of Network Security is in
the Cloud”, 30 August 2019

3. HARIS CHUGHTAI
SASE Driving Factors
 Cloud Adaptation
 Enterprise services & applications (including the one
carrying sensitive data) migration to public cloud is
inevitable
 SaaS e.g. Office365, Salesforce etc
 IaaS .e.g custom application running on VMs
 Decentralized Network Resources
 Traffic used to be 80/20 (80% internal + 20% internet)
 Now changing to 20/80 (20% internal + 80% internet)
 Mobility
 Users are no more bound to their office desk
 Need access to services from anywhere
 Convergence
 Network & Security functions are converging
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Internet/ SaaS/ IaaS
FW,SWG, CASB, ZTNA
By 2023, 20% of enterprises will have adopted SWG, CASB,
ZTNA and branch FWaaS capabilities from the same vendor up
from less than 5% in 2019.
By 2024, at least 40% of enterprises will have explicit strategies
to adopt SASE, up from less than 1% at year-end 2018.
By 2025, at least one of the leading IaaS providers will offer a
competitive suite of SASE capabilities
Gartner, D G00441737 “The Future of Network Security is in
the Cloud”, 30 August 2019.

4.  Secure Access to services for all users from anywhere
 Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
 Cloud Access Service Broker (CASB)
 Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)
 Secure Web Gateway (SWG)
 Firewall Security (FWaaS)
 Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS)
 Flexibility, reduced complexity, increased performance
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SASE Promises
HARIS CHUGHTAI

5. HARIS CHUGHTAI
 SASE provides consistent, agile and holistic approach for a converged network enabled with security
 Helps avoiding traditional components based products and services
 Converged Networking & Security helps reducing number of devices and vendors that organization has to deal
with thus reduces Operational Overheads & bring cost optimizations
 When deployed with SDWAN, it enhances not only the security posture but also brings network efficiencies by
incorporating automated traffic optimization & continuity
 Improved Security by deploying a Zero Trust approach when users, devices and applications connect. A SASE
solution expected to provide complete session protection, regardless of whether a user is on or off the
corporate network
 Reduce dependency on enterprise Data Centers with gradual application migration to public Cloud
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SASE Advantages to Enterprises

6. SASE & SDWAN
 SDWAN is an Access agnostic, agile WAN access (typically used for site-site connectivity to reduce
expensive MPLS cost). Moreover SDWAN is mainly intended for branch sites not for Mobile users
 Think of SASE as a platform to securely connect enterprise users to your Cloud as well as on-prem
resources irrespective of their location
 SDWAN vendors are strongly pitching their solutions as SASE which may not be entirely true
 SASE expected to offers more features than plain SDWAN
 SDWAN can be viewed as a SASE solution for branch sites if it can provide the expected security
features
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HARIS CHUGHTAI

7. Key Take Aways
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 SASE is a fairly newly evolved term, vendors are interpreting it in their own ways
Firewall vendors are positioning their edge FWs as branch SASE (Security + SDWAN)
SDWAN vendors adding limited security features to pitch it as SASE
 Be careful in mixing SASE with SDWAN
SDWAN is just a piece of broader solution SASE is expected to provide
Do your due diligence in selecting your SDWAN solution as SASE
 Not all Cloud firewalls offer capabilities anticipated from a SASE solution
 Don’t ignore the security of Mobile users which are major part of every organization now
 Avoid vendors that propose to deliver the broad set of services by linking a large number of products
(e.g. many purpose built VMs)
 If organization offices and users are dispersed globally, look for a SASE providers with worldwide POPs
for low-latency user access [providing a distributed edge computing capabilities]
 Shift security from boxes to a software based policy driven security service
HARIS CHUGHTAI