To secure remote employees, organizations have to find a way of securing hybrid environments where employees can access data and applications. You can do this by using a service edge.

SSE provides security and network services in a single cloud-native platform. This allows security to be covered across SaaS cloud applications, private applications and cloud services from a single policy.

Access Control

As more employees and trusted partners access content, data, applications, and other resources through the internet or mobile devices, it is essential to have a comprehensive secure service edge (SSE) solution. SSE protects users from malicious and unauthorized access. It also enables secure access for web, cloud and private applications and monitors the digital experience.

SSE is a cloud-based platform that integrates networking and security functions, such as software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN), firewall as a service, secure web gateways (SWG), cloud access security broker (CASB), and zero trust network access (ZTNA). It ensures consistent application and data security across locations and users, and provides centralized visibility.

SSE also includes a zero trust approach to access control that is based on identity and never places users on the corporate network. This provides fast and reliable WAN connection without the requirement for a VPN. SSE includes a strong defense-in-depth approach for detecting malware and other threats.

Threat Protection

SSE is a threat protection solution for internet sessions. Users can securely access critical business applications from anywhere. This enables hybrid-work for employees, secures data and cloud connectivity, accelerates migrations to the cloud, and simplifies M&A integration.

The cloud platform can deliver security services to users regardless of their location or device. This reduces the risk of a breach by removing gaps between point solutions and eliminating the need for manually updating traditional legacy appliances.

Zero trust access. SSE systems are designed to allow the least-privileged user access. This is based on an zero trust policy that includes device, application, and content. This protects against lateral movement while preventing applications from being found, reducing attack surfaces.

SSE enforces policies: SSE combines unified threats prevention capabilities with CASB/ZTNA technologies in order to enforce corporate policy on all end-users, no matter where they are located within the network or which devices they use. This helps mitigate the risk of insider threats, ransomware and other threats that can occur when employees connect to sensitive data or use cloud applications that are not compliant with corporate policies.

Data Security

Organisations must protect information when remote users and mobile devices connect to data and applications over the Internet. Secure service edges delivers security through the unification of web gateways (SWG), cloud-access security brokers (CASB), as well as zero-trust network access (ZTNA).

SSE also provides centralized cloud Data Loss Protection (DLP) capabilities. This allows sensitive data, such as credit card numbers, to be classified, located and secured in one place. This can help to support compliance policy, such as Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard PCI DSS and GDPR.

SSE solutions must also have advanced threat prevention capabilities, such as cloud firewall as a service (FWaaS), CASB inspection of data in SaaS apps, and adaptive access control. SSE includes adaptive access controls that identify device postures and change access accordingly.

Monitoring

Monitoring internet sessions is important when using a secure service. This allows you the ability to track how your network performs, and which apps have been used.

Monitoring will help you identify problems before they occur and safeguard your business. This can help improve your user's experience and reduce cost.

SSE platforms that can inspect web and data traffic at a global scale are crucial. Make sure the vendor you choose has strong service-level agreements (SLAs) and a track record of evaluating inline traffic for major multinational companies.

The primary use case for a security edge is to enforce policies over cloud, internet and mobile access. For example, this can include enforcing policies on corporate internet access and compliance through content blockage and malware isolation.