Secure the Edge with SASE

Secure access service edge (SASE) has gained traction as networks have become increasingly fluid – the moat and castle approach to securing the organization is no longer feasible in the era of remote work.

SASE combines network connectivity with network security into one platform that can be centrally controlled, usually via the cloud, to improve visibility, bolster policy controls and enhance overall user experience across all applications. Essentially, SASE is a single corporate network that reduces the need for various point solutions.

 

By converging networking and security-as-a-service functions into a single cloud platform, you can support distribute hybrid and remote workers, who all connect to nearly cloud gateways rather than a central corporate data center. SASE eliminates the need for every user, office, and application to your data center via a private network or secondary network, a model which can no longer support today’s reality of dispersed, remote workers.

With SASE, network controls are moved out of the data center to the cloud edge, with all network and security services using a single control plane. By using identity management and Zero Trust security policies, SASE enables to you to extend network access to all your remote workers, regional offices, applications, and endpoints.

SASE Components

SASE encompasses many security elements you may already be familiar with:

  • A next-generation firewall (NGFW), which inspects data at a deep level and provides intrusion prevention, application awareness and control, and threat intelligence.
  • A secure web gateway (SWG), which protects data and thwarts cyber threats by filtering out unwanted web traffic content and blocking risky or unauthorized user behavior.
  • A Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), a model that assumes security threats are present inside and outside a network and ensures that users only access data and applications they need to do their job.
  • A cloud access security broker (CASB), which provides security controls and additional visibility for your cloud applications and services.
  • A Software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) or WANaaS, which helps scale connectivity and operations across large distances to branch offices and data centers.

SASE Benefits

Because SASE relies heavily on the Zero Trust model, it not only ensures that the right users have access to data and applications through robust verification processes, but it also takes into account other factors such as device status and geographic location, while continually evaluating risk.

SASE also reduces your overall security costs because it combines many point solutions into a single cloud platform, which also reduces the amount of time IT teams spend managing security tools and simplifies integration. Fewer point solutions also lead to increased agility and operational efficiency.

Aside from security, SASE also helps to improve the user experience for remote and hybrid workers by more efficiently routing traffic across the edge network, enabling it to be processed as close to the user as possible.

Organizations of all sizes must accept that there’s no longer a single route into their enterprise network. SASE enables you to combine network connectivity and security into one platform to support your distributed workers while protecting your data.

There are many ways artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning already impact cybersecurity. You can expect that trend to continue in 2024 – both as tools for data protection as well as a threat.

Balancing Cybersecurity Innovation Amid Evolving Threat Landscapes

Even as you implement AI and machine learning into your cybersecurity strategy through the adoption of tools like Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR), Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and Managed Detection and Response (MDR), so are threat actors. They will continue to update and evolve their own methodologies and tools to compromise their targets by applying AI and machine learning to how they use ransomware, malware and deepfakes.

With small and medium-sized businesses just much at risk as their large enterprise counterparts, SMBs must take advantage of AI and machine learning as mush possible. AI-directed attacks are expected to rise in 2024 in the form of deepfake technologies that make phishing and impersonation more effective, as well as evolving ransomware and malware.

Deepfake social engineering techniques

Deepfake technologies that leverage AI are especially worrisome, as they can create fake content that spurs employees and organizations to work against their best interests. Hackers can use deepfakes to create massive changes with serious financial consequences, including altering stock prices.

Deepfake social engineering techniques will only improve with the use of AI, increasing the likelihood of data breaches through unauthorized access to systems and more authentic looking phishing messages that are more personalized, and hence, more effective.

Countering Cyber Threats and Harnessing Innovation in 2024

If hackers are keen on leveraging AI and machine learning to defeat your cybersecurity, you must be ready to combat them in equal measure – just as AI and machine learning will create new challenges in 2024, they can also help you bolster your cybersecurity. While regulations are being developed to foster ethical use of AI, threat actors are not likely to follow them.

AI will also affect your cyber insurance as your providers will use it to assess your resilience against cyberattacks and adjust your premium payments accordingly. AI presents an opportunity for you to improve your cybersecurity to keep those insurance costs under control.

Conclusion

There’s a lot of doom being predicted around the growing use of AI and machine learning. And while it does pose a risk to your organization and its sensitive data, you can use it to bolster your cybersecurity even as threat actors leverage AI to up the ante. A managed service provider with a focus on security can help you use AI and machine learning to protect your organization as we head into 2024.

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