Intelligent SME.tech Issue 21 | Page 32

intelligent

Sunil Ravi , Chief Security Architect at Versa Networks

problem was exacerbated for SMEs due to the type of devices that were connected to their networks . Many SMEs do not have budget to provide employees with corporate devices , therefore many employees ended up using their devices , which probably have inadequate security . Unfortunately , when there are poor security measures then there are opportunities for threat actors to exploit weaknesses and breach an SME ’ s network .

Keeping costs down also results in employees using cloud applications . SMEs normally take advantage of the most cost-effective solutions , which are usually stored in the cloud . Therefore , employees are not only expanding the network by working remotely but are now accessing cloud applications which are located across the world .

Adding more devices to a network and accessing applications from different locations all expand the attack surface of an organisation , creating larger gaps in the network which can be exploited by threat actors . Security teams , who are usually extremely small , sometimes just one IT manager , then struggle to maintain full visibility and control across their entire network , making it easier for malware to evade and cause significant and long-term damage .

It is therefore crucial that SMEs start looking towards solutions that can secure their networks , whilst providing them with the flexibility and speed needed when working remotely . Technologies such as Secure Access Service Edge ( SASE ) have proven to be an excellent way of providing both networking performance and security .

SASE brings a closer integration between security and networking to ensure networks are secure through the principles of Zero Trust but maintain high connectivity speeds .

With SASE , security is consistent across the entire network eliminating security gaps and vulnerabilities when connecting with multiple security solutions . Additionally , SASE ensures that the network is segmented , resulting in SMEs being able to restrict the movement of malware across networks and significantly reducing the cyber-risk .

SASE is naturally designed for organisations that may lack security or network-focused engineers and architects , risk and compliance teams , and onsite hardware technicians . By featuring easy integration processes such as default configurations and templates , launching SASE architecture is simple .

Through SASE , SMEs have an easy-touse security solution which can give them complete visibility across their entire network and absolute control over who is accessing what and when on their network . �