On Monday, Fortinet announced the acquisition of OPAQ networks, a company well-regarded for its cloud security and SASE solutions. In its press release, Fortinet founder Ken Xie explained that the addition of OPAQ will enable Fortinet to “deliver the most complete SASE platform on the market.”
Even the most seasoned network engineers have trouble keeping the latest network security acronyms straight. If you are wondering precisely what SASE is, we’ve compiled a little primer for you.
SASE stands for “Secure Access Service Edge” and is pronounced “sassy.” Now, if you didn’t know that, don’t feel bad, the term SASE was first coined last year by Garnett in their 2019 Network Hype Cycle report and reiterated in their follow-up, The Future of Network Security Is in the Cloud.
While SASE isn’t a specific new technology or innovation, it represents an emerging network security concept that helps unify security models that incorporate WANs, cloud security, zero trust, and more. The aforementioned Gartner reports estimates that “by 2024, at least 40% of enterprises will have explicit strategies to adopt SASE, up from less than 1% at the year-end 2018.”
SASE solutions typically connect and secure users and devices through a single global (cloud-based) platform, regardless of whether the solution is securing a single teleworker, a branch office, or IoT device. Additionally, SASE solutions operate irrespective of user location or originating network.
As enterprise computing operations decentralize to the Cloud and SaaS applications, with users increasingly accessing information from remote and mobile locations, companies are rethinking how to secure their electronic resources. While SD-WAN is a good solution for branch locations, it doesn’t work for an on-the-go workforce.
Built around secure access, SASE solutions centralize the heavy lifting in the Cloud. Access is defined by security policies based on the user identity, often coupled with other information (such as location, time of day, the sensitivity of the data) that helps inform the policy.
Below are some great resources for you to learn more about SASE:
SD-WAN Experts:
SASE – Secure Access Service Edge Summary
SDXCentral:
What is SASE (Secure Access Service Edge)?
Gartner: (subscription required)
Networking Hype 2019 Report
The Future of the Network Security is in the Cloud
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