Remote work is a double-edged sword. Yes, both you and your employees enjoy many benefits, like flexibility, improved work-life balance, and lower overheads. However, the downside is that having a distributed workforce substantially increases your entire risk profile when it comes to security and compliance.
There are undoubtedly many point solutions and tools being released to help organisations cope with the realities of sustained remote work. However, none is quite as comprehensive and elegantly integrated as the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture, which leading analysts now touted as the future of secure networking and security.
But what is SASE architecture, and how do you adopt it methodically?
What is SASE?
Simply put, SASE combines software-defined networking and cloud security into one cloud service. This makes it easy to connect remote workers and offices to apps and data securely. Instead of separate old-school products bolted together, SASE gives you a single integrated platform handling remote access, speed optimisation, threat protection, and more from one dashboard.
For example, SASE includes tools and features like secure web gateways to filter web content, cloud access security brokers (CSAB) to inspect SaaS apps for threats, firewalls to block web-based cyberattacks, and zero-trust network access to verify user identities.
The bottom line? Legacy networks can’t keep up as organisations switch to remote and hybrid models with bring-your-own-devices and cloud apps. SASE makes distributed access simple, flexible, and secure in today’s world. Now let’s walk through how to roll out SASE in your business.
Assess Your Environment and Requirements
First, the most crucial step is to take stock of your current environment and identify requirements before moving forward with SASE. Gather essential information like:
- Branch Locations: How many branch office locations do you have, and where are they geographically? What sizes are they? Get specifics on sites, users, and devices at each
- Remote Users: How many remote employees and contractors will need SASE access? Document how many are fully remote versus hybrid workers
- Bandwidth Needs: What internet bandwidth capacity does each location require? What are your bandwidth needs for business-critical apps? How much bandwidth is for recreational traffic?
- Security Priorities: Which security capabilities are most critical for your business – SWG, CASB, FWaaS, ZTNA, or others? What specific security policies and controls do you need?
- Networking Needs: What are your overall networking requirements? Do you need multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) connectivity? Which traffic patterns and application flows are most important?
- Compliance Mandates: What data protection, privacy and industry regulations apply to your organisation? Document requirements like HIPAA, PCI DSS, GDPR, and CCPA that impact your security roadmap
Take time to thoroughly gather this information across your IT environment and business units. Ensure key stakeholders align on SASE priorities and use cases up front. This will directly drive your upcoming SASE architecture decisions in areas like design, vendor selection, rollout phases, and more, so accuracy and precision here are vital.
Select Your SASE Vendor(s)
With requirements established, the next step is vetting and selecting your SASE vendor(s). This crucial decision point lays the foundation for everything that follows. Critical criteria to evaluate include:
- The breadth of native SASE capabilities integrated into their platform holistically
- Ability to flexibly scale both networking and security services on-demand as needs evolve
- Support for seamless hybrid connectivity across cloud, SaaS applications, and data centers
- Unified dashboards and end-to-end visibility across the entire SASE service chain
- Carrier-neutrality and worldwide support for last-mile ISP connections
- Compliance with regional and industry data regulations like GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA
Take the time upfront to thoroughly evaluate multiple vendors against these criteria before deciding on the best fit for your specific needs. Getting the vendor selection right from the start will make the rest of your journey smooth and successful. Take your time with this step.
Design Your SASE Architecture
Now, you’re ready to map out your tailored SASE blueprint leveraging your selected vendor’s technology. This entails:
- Defining network topology and connections back to SASE points-of-presence (POPs)
- Configuring optimised SD-WAN policies to handle traffic flows based on business intent
- Enabling flexible access control policies based on users, locations, applications, etc to microsegment access
- Layering in appropriate SWG, CASB, FWaaS, and ZTNA controls per your policies to check traffic
- Considering the need for web content filtering, anti-malware scanning and data loss prevention based on data sensitivity
- Documenting identity and access policies around authentication and authorisation
- Mapping out routing policies for direct internet breakout from branches vs backhauling
- Designing self-service workflows for access requests and policy change approvals
Document your policies, user and group segments, security stack, and connectivity in granular detail. This is your SASE architecture playbook.
Execute a Phased Deployment Plan
With the design completed, smart SASE adoption starts with an incremental rollout. This minimises disruption while allowing time to monitor service quality. Suggested phases include:
Phase 1: First, deploy SASE capabilities to a pilot site. Identify any issues on a small scale before expanding.
Phase 2: Expand to regional hub sites and smaller branch sites in each region.
Phase 3: Enable SASE connectivity and security for remote users and devices.
At each phase, collect user feedback and tune services as required before moving to the next stage. This ensures smooth adoption.
Manage and Optimise Your SASE Implementation
With your rollout complete, the work has just begun. Like any cloud architecture, your SASE platform needs continuous governance through:
- Monitoring overall system health, performance, network quality, and security efficacy
- Tuning policies and controls to align with business needs
- Adding or updating SASE capabilities as needs evolve
- Responding quickly to any service issues and troubleshooting
- Regularly testing failover and disaster recovery processes
- Ensuring optimal user experience across all connection types
By making SASE management a priority long-term, you’ll guarantee your users stay productive, and your data stays protected no matter how the business scales.
Implementing SASE requires thoughtful planning, phased deployment, and continuous optimisation. But the outcome is worth the effort: secure, high-performance connectivity tailored to a cloud and mobile world.
With remote work here to stay, SASE delivers a way to enable business growth without compromising on security, even as teams spread out. The steps outlined here provide a blueprint to build your robust SASE architecture for the future.
So don’t leave it until disaster strikes or auditors raise flags. Be proactive in strengthening your security posture with an elegant long-term solution. SASE sets you up for the new normal while keeping your organisation productive and protected.
