E-BOOK

SASE: What’s all

the hype?
Unpacking what you really
need to know
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Remote teams.
Hybrid working.
Cloud-based Gartner predicts that by 2025, at least 60%
of enterprises will have explicit strategies and
systems. timelines for Secure Access Service Edge
(SASE) adoption encompassing user, branch,
and edge access, up from 10% in 20201.

So, let’s get you across why SASE, and

why now?

1. 2021 Strategic Roadmap for SASE Convergence - Gartner

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Being able to provide universal access in a consistent way to employees

and customers - in any location, on any device - has revolutionised how
we now do business.

Your workforce needs anywhere, anytime access

Users are dispersed – home, branch, and more

Connecting in different ways

Applications are everywhere

The shift toward a more distributed workforce is not new but has recently
accelerated. While the principles of SASE were in place well before 2020,
recent global events brought SASE to the forefront as remote access to
applications and ‘work from anywhere’ became a top organisational priority.
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Organisations rushed to enable direct internet access to roaming users

and zero trust network access to help ensure trusted access.

Now most people are working anywhere – at home, on the go, at the branch
or campus offices – on any device. With this shift, the datacenter is no longer
the hub – the user is. And to give them secure access to work resources and
applications, users must now be treated as a ‘branch of one’.

Now, networking and security groups struggle to:

• Connect and protect users

• Adapt to constantly evolving threat vectors

• Work together efficiently.

The challenge we have now is how do we enable our

workforce to work from anywhere, and at any time,
without jeapardising security?

The answer is SASE.

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Why & what is SASE?

What? SASE helps you gain more control by cutting out complexity
and leveraging the cloud for secure networking. It’s a cloud
The ‘SASE’ term was coined by Gartner in 2019,
edge service that helps you scale and simplify in a world
however the concepts of SASE are far from new. SASE
where worker distribution is always in flux.
provides comprehensive network security functions
and supports our modern world digital needs.

Why?

At its core, SASE helps you get back into the

driver’s seat: Identity Verification

• Deliver secure access anywhere, anytime

Networking
• Make your business more agile

• Move access control to the cloud edge

• Gain efficiencies with an as-a-service model.

It’s identity-driven and cloud-native, operating

globally - making it an ideal solution for remote Security
working and universal network security.
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So, the trend is clear, but

SASE adoption types will
vary. SASE isn’t a ‘set
and forget’ solution, but SASE gives you the flexibility to stay agile in response to the

one that evolves with requirements of your business - wherever you are in your
digital transformation.
your needs. Which is why
it’s best to think about There are three core changes which are driving the

SASE as a journey, not adoption of SASE:

1
a destination. The shift in workloads and applications from data
centres to multi-cloud environments

2
Highly distributed hybrid workforces, rather than
centrally-based teams

3
Increasingly siloed vendor technologies, which often
come with complex integrations.
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How can SASE help?

IT teams are being asked to ensure the same
level of security and quality of experience,
regardless of an end user’s location. To keep
teams secure, while also replicating the level
of experience they’re used to - ensuring
security and productivity.
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USE CASE #1

Optimised user experience

SASE can help through ensuring your remote workforce has
a consistent Quality of Experience (QoE) when connecting,
without any downtime or latency which might have a negative
impact on workforce productivity.
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M E ET PETE R

Peter is an engineer performing maintenance on a remote wind turbine

plant. Critical to his task is the ability to access sensitive information within
the companies data stores (held in private and public clouds) in a timely
manner. He must also upload and share sensitive system analytics and
sensor data. Using local edge-based-compute at the plant, Peter performs
data analytics on the IoT data and uploads this to companies data stores.
This critical information is time-sensitive and highly confidential requiring
the location and status of the remote plant to remain hidden.
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WITH TH E SA S E F R A M E WO R K , PETE R I S A B LE TO :

Securely access the critical monitoring systems held in the public cloud

Remotely upload and update these monitoring systems in real-time

Establish a secure connection from the remote plant to the public cloud via a cloud-based security
capability

Be assured that the sensitive data is protected whilst in transit and the location of the source of the
data is also obfuscated through the cloud-based proxy functions

Utilising the SASE framework, any inbound threats to the remote wind turbines are mitigated through
packet analysis and security enforcement within the cloud-based security capability.
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USE CASE #2

Work from anywhere

Whether you have a team working from home, on the road,
or onsite, the ability to work from anywhere in a seamless,
secure, and supported way, is essential. Whether you’re
catching-up on work from a customer’s office, logging-in
from home, or inputting data from a cafe.
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M E ET D E E PA K

Deepak works for a large enterprise of 5000+ employees and requires access
to the company’s SAP Hana instance and other critical applications (CRM/
Inventory Management/etc) whilst on the road travelling to various customers.

On occasion, Deepak has to utilise public wireless hotspots as found in cafés or

shops to access his company’s resources. This use of public wireless hotspots
introduces various security threats where critical corporate and customer data
can be compromised.

To ensure Deepak’s company maintains data confidentiality and integrity,

various security measures must be enforced:

• Deepak’s mobile device and data must be secured

• Deepak’s identity must be verified before accessing the company’s critical

applications and data stores

• Deepak can only access certain Company applications based on his role

• Deepak has a positive and consistent user experience regardless of whether

he is in the company office or on the road.
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WITH TH E SA S E F R A M E WO R K , D E E PA K I S A B LE TO :

Ensure secure connectivity is established

Authenticate credentials against cloud-based identity stores

Access the applications he has authorisation for

Keep all bi-directional communication encrypted ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of the
sensitive data.

From a company perspective, executives can rest assured that their critical information/data can not be
compromised through enforcing corporate security policies within the cloud, for example, SSL Inspection,
Data Loss Prevention (DLP), Malware protection, IPS/IDS and CASB.

Another critical component of the SASE framework is secure WAN access, be it over an uncontrolled
Internet ISP link or a corporate MPLS WAN. It is vital all communication is encrypted; this is achieved through
the Secure SD-WAN component of the SASE framework. Not only does Secure SD-WAN maintain data
confidentiality and integrity, it also ensures the end-user experience is optimised by consistently monitoring
the application performance and adjusting the communications path based on real-time feedback.
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USE CASE #3

Security, everywhere
SASE means reconsidering the traditional approach to security. Rather than security
being an add-on function, it becomes embedded at every point of the process, and
built into systems.

While traditional security solutions served a purpose, they were all about protecting
the perimeter. It’s no longer relevant in a world where we’re working with hybrid
workforces, cloud-based applications, and a far reaching network.

And security is especially important for small business - 60% of cyber security
victims go out of business within 6 months of an attack2. The risk is too great
to be leaving network security to chance with dispersed workforces and hybrid
work models.

2. Maddie Shepherd, 30 Surprising Small Business Cyber Security Statistics, Fundera, 2021
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M E ET J E N N I F E R

Jennifer is a brand new employee who is about to start her first day of
work for a SMB organisation and requires access to a web-enabled app,
which is hosted in the public cloud, from her unmanaged device.

To ensure data integrity and security compliance, her new company

needs to:

• Be able to provide Jennifer with unfettered access to this application

• Control her access to other business critical applications and data

stored in their public cloud

• Ensure any sensitive corporate information is not downloaded to her

unmanaged device

• Record and retain detailed audit trails to meet the company’s PCI
compliance commitments.
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WITH TH E SA S E F R A M E WO R K , J E N N I F E R ’ S CO M PA N Y I S A B LE TO :

Onboard new employees like Jennifer more rapidly, proving them with immediate access to business
critical applications whilst maintaining their corporate security policies.

An integral component of the SASE framework is Zero Touch Network Access (ZTNA); this capability
facilitates granular access to applications and services, taking into consideration the identity of the
end-user, the type of end-device they are using and where they are located. Based on this information,
specific security policies can be enforced; for example, in Jennifer’s case, she is using her own personal
device - in this case, a security policy would be applied to ensure that no files or company data can be
downloaded to that device.

This granularity provides companies the flexibility and agility they require to compete in today’s business
world, whilst ensuring they maintain their security posture across all facets of their business.
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“Cisco Umbrella
secured the whole
company network An umbrella for
in 10 minutes.
Impressive.” the cloud
Marc Tournier, Information Security and As cloud-based computing is widely adopted, 54% of IT
Compliance Manager (CISO) at Avril leaders are prioritising improvements on visibility and security
for home workers and cloud infrastructure3.

This is where Cisco can help.

Umbrella is Cisco’s core security offering when addressing

the concept of SASE. It provides critical security functions
for cloud-based networks.

It’s designed to protect you from any security or access

‘storms’ when using the cloud, through SASE that meets you
wherever you are on your journey.

3. What is SASE? Read Top 10 SD-WAN and SASE Statistics

(accelerate-technologies.com)
Ready to take your next step?

Watch our on-demand webinar, ‘Unpacking SASE: 3 ways You’ll learn:

to a secure hybrid workforce’.
Our keynote speaker Simon Piff, Vice President of
Security Practice at IDC, discusses why SASE is crucial
to the future of the remote workforce and will help you to
kickstart your SASE journey.
1. The shift in the IT landscape
2. Why SASE, why now? - Use cases driving the shift
3. Helping organisations remain agile, secure and proactively
respond to threats.
4. K
 ey benefits - providing consistent user and security
experience.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Simon Piff, Vice President of Security
Practice at IDC

WATCH NOW
TESTIMON IAL

“I’m thrilled with the many improvements we’ve

made by choosing Cisco for our SASE architecture.
I’ve already noticed a tremendous improvement
in speed, stability and bandwidth across all our
operations utilising SD-WAN. Using the SD-WAN
integration with Cisco Umbrella gives us effective
cloud security throughout our SD-WAN fabric.”
Joel Marquez, IT Director - Tamimi Markets