For long, the cloud was seen as an enabler of digital transformation for enterprises of all sizes. Gartner expects that the global spending on public cloud services alone will surpass USD 1 Trillion by 2027. The pandemic-driven remote work paradigm combined with an increased preference for digital-first services by consumers has further contributed to the accelerated cloud adoption trend we see today. Businesses are racing ahead to transition both their own operational systems as well as customer-facing channels from on-premises to the cloud.
The push to the cloud has set off another set of innovations that are focused on ensuring a secure experience for all facets of businesses when they move into the cloud. One of the most notable recent entrants is Secure Access Service Edge or SASE. SASE is a new-age network architecture that combines proven cloud security measures like firewalls, Zero Trust access controls, secure web gateways, etc., with a secure SD-WAN network and then offers the bundle as a cloud cybersecurity product or platform in SaaS mode.
SASE is the umbrella platform that acts as a single network base for all the organization's digital assets like cloud software used across the business and in all branches of the business globally, data centers, employee portals, work environments, etc. Irrespective of where access to the organization's digital ecosystem is needed, the SASE approach guarantees the availability of the organization's network at that point.
It is similar to taking the office where employees work to ensure that every digital operation happens within the organizational network running in the cloud. With secure digital operations becoming a strategic priority for CIOs, the SASE market is expected to boom in the coming years. In fact,Gartner estimates a market size of over USD 25 billion for SASE by as early as 2027 itself.
Fortifying SASE for the Future with a Better Understanding of Identity and Access ManagementAs SASE continues to gain momentum, there is increased focus on enterprise leaders to have a better and holistic understanding of how secure the approach is. This is necessary to trust SASE with critical business operations that are handled digitally and by employees who may be working remotely. In this context, it is vital to know about Identity and Access Management (IAM) in SASE.
It is certain that enterprises are familiar with the concept of IAM and have certainly leveraged a diverse range of IAM tools and platforms in their journey so far. However, in traditional digital networks, IAM concepts treated the entities that work on the network as the only elements that needed authorization and verification to gain access to the network. In other words, it considered identity as an external verification check for different use cases of the network.
IAM as an Integral Behavior of SASEIn the case of SASE, IAM is an integral part of the network, and identity is treated as an internal operational behavior. Every user who wants to leverage a SASE service cannot access the network without proving their credentials first. In other words, a SASE network operates on the Zero Trust Architecture which is essential for added security in modern digital environments. Any user or entity wishing to work in the corporate network must be able to earn the trust of the SASE network by ensuring compliance with its security policies, protocols, data privacy laws, and other requirements.
Once a user is allowed entry after it earns trust, the SASE network forms a virtual boundary for the session in which the user or entity accesses an organizational asset such as servers, data centers, or cloud resources. Contextual information like the location of origin of the session, the time, device source are all captured for defining an identity for the entity. This identity is used to facilitate future validations and entries.
A Truly Cloud NetworkWe are seeing alarmingly high volumes of cyber threats on cloud-based digital systems. SASE is a breakthrough when we consider the potential solutions to safeguard cloud assets. By binding contextual identity information like session info, time, etc. corporate networks are secured from security blind spots. No entity gets access unless it can prove and earn trust from the SASE network.
This approach of IAM in SASE helps to prevent threats like user credential theft through phishing. Even if a user is scammed to reveal their passwords or credentials, the SASE network doesn't let them in without verifying how the entry session has been created. Historic data on sessions, time, devices, etc. will be used to easily identify such stolen identities and they will be prevented from accessing the corporate network.
Thus, SASE becomes the perfect candidate for a true cloud network that organizations can leverage even in fully remote working conditions. However, the journey into end-to-end security for enterprise digital assets is not easy. Moving into complex solutions like SASE requires strategic guidance and a roadmap for dealing with challenges and opportunities along the way.
This is where an experienced security partner like Incrux can be your greatest asset. Get in touch with us to know more.