SD-WAN Safeguards Technical Diversity and Expanding Perimeters
William Arthur Ward, the noted writer of inspirational maxims quipped, “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” A pretty pertinent glimpse into the facets of human nature.
In fairness, our complaints are well-grounded in acknowledging that mobility, multi-cloud, and IoT make it impossible for traditional networks to meet the needs of today’s diverse technologies and expanding network perimeters. However, we can be very optimistic about the changing direction of network and security infrastructure. There is a digital transformation upon us, that supports new and diverse customer-driven initiatives. And fortunately, there are the many realists, in the form of enterprises, who are meeting these changes head-on by deploying SD-WAN as part of their digital transformation.
Networking and security require a new approach
While the pessimist forecasts doom, and the optimist sits with fingers crossed, AireSpring’s Global Managed SD-WAN was built for the realist who rolls up his sleeves and finds a way to make it work.
AireSpring Global Managed SD-WAN consists of multiple inter-dependencies, relationships and structural network and security functions, integrated into a single, cohesive cloud-native platform. This platform removes the complexity of maintaining uniform policies and keeping them up-to-date across different environments.
AireSpring Global Managed SD-WAN includes automated and programmable network and security functions at every edge location, so that incident data can be centrally managed and responded to in real-time.
The importance of implementing uniform corporate policies for every node at the network edge can’t be underestimated. This provides protected audit trails for traffic going in and out of the network. It also establishes a critical architectural strategy of embedding security intelligence and remediation mechanisms throughout the network fabric.
Network security within a single cloud-native platform
Enterprises can still be at risk, even if they have established network operations with multiple levels of security, including strictly enforced policies and regularly scheduled audits. They are still susceptible to many potential cyber threats that can bring their network down, and compromise user credentials, personal information and corporate secrets.
SD-WAN creates a secure network flywheel that drives the ability to respond to increasing threats. Digital transformation is moving us away from fragmented, single-function network and security products, incapable of keeping up with the volume and sophistication of today’s cybersecurity challenges. We are shifting to integrated software platforms that enable enterprises to get ahead of increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity threats.
WAN infrastructure with single layer security, and even those with a multi-tiered security approach, can be at risk. If these architectures allow their users direct access to data, hackers can gain access to those systems, and exploit vulnerabilities.
The growing diversity and expanding attack surfaces require a shift to an integrated software-defined infrastructure. Adding more siloed resources is not the answer to achieving a secure WAN. When IT teams take advantage of SD-WAN, they can “adjust their sails”, fortify protections, and rapidly contain threats.