SASE means Secure Access Service Edge, a term crafted by Gartner. SASE architecture delivers both “WAN capabilities” and “security” as a “cloud service” directly to the source (users, devices, IoT, etc.) without backhauling to enterprise data centers.

It is a fact that the Internet was not designed by keeping security in mind, as in the beginning it was not meant for business. Later, Internet security started with the Firewall when businesses started connecting to the internet. Firewall blocks outsider access to the business network while allowing returning traffic when employees access public services (websites). As the internet grew, firewalls were enhanced with URL-filtering based on URL-categorization to block website access based on content categories such as business, gambling, education, and violence. Firewalls were further enhanced with App-Control and Data-Loss-Prevention (DLP) capabilities as employees, as well as businesses, started using cloud apps from the enterprise network.

Now, Covid-19 has accelerated remote-worker use-cases, and employees no longer work behind enterprise gateway. SASE is the need of the hour, as it simplifies WAN capabilities and security solutions for the “mobile workforce in a global workplace”, that relies on cloud apps with business data. In this scenario, the traditional solution of backhauling all WAN traffic to enterprise data centers for security assurance will add latency. It does not make sense as both source (users, devices, etc) and destination (cloud apps) are globally dispersed. SASE eliminates the backhauling delays (latency) by delivering services (network and security) to the edge (source - users).

SASE is a journey and not the destination. It is an emerging offering combining comprehensive WAN capabilities with comprehensive network security functions to support dynamic secure access.

To learn more visit:

https://www.netskope.com/blog/the-right-steps-to-sase-understand-where-youre-going