If you work in IT or cybersecurity, secure access service edge (SASE) is on your mind. This comprehensive solution that converges networking and security across the entire hybrid network is the single best deployment to protect and manage modern enterprise environments. However, it can also be complicated. Some vendors who are eager to capitalize on the SASE excitement may paint a picture that deploying a SASE solution is a “set-it-and-forget-it” process. Still, anyone with IT experience has learned that nothing is ever as easy as it seems, and the devil is often in the details.

As an organization interested in SASE, what do you do? How do you assess SASE vendors and determine the best way to introduce the solution in your environment?

I’ve spoken to many customers exploring SASE, and what I’ve found works best is to think of SASE as a journey. There are so many elements to the solution that it’s rare that a company will deploy all the technology that makes up SASE at the same time. For one, it’s complicated. It can also be very expensive.

The key to cutting through the confusion and deciding where to start your SASE journey lies in understanding the primary use cases your SASE solution needs to address out of the gate. Using the solution to tackle an existing problem will drive immediate results within your organization and kick off your SASE rollout. And you don’t have to have a full-blown SASE plan to start. You can tackle one use case, assess how things are progressing, and decide the best next step for your journey.

To help put this advice into practice and get your IT teams thinking, here are the three most common use cases Fortinet customers are addressing with our single-vendor SASE solution.


Secure Internet Access

Many companies struggle to provide secure internet access to their increasingly hybrid workforce. SASE is a great tool to help provide this functionality as it protects users no matter their location or the websites they are trying to reach.

Unlike virtual private networks (VPNs), SASE provides more than an encrypted tunnel to address advanced cyberthreats. SASE includes a portfolio of enterprise-grade security solutions designed to inspect traffic and detect and respond to known and unknown threats. These capabilities include:

  • A secure web gateway to monitor and protect data and applications against web-based attack tactics
  • Firewall-as-a-Service
  • Deep secure sockets layer inspection to analyze content to and from sites using Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure
  • Domain name system security
  • Anti-phishing, anti-malware, and sandboxing

 

Secure Private Access

Fast and secure connectivity to corporate applications, whether deployed at a private data center or in the public cloud, is essential to successfully address modern enterprise requirements. A SASE solution with integrated zero-trust network access (ZTNA) provides explicit per-application access to authenticated users without requiring a persistent VPN tunnel. Granting access based on identity and context, combined with continuous validation, enables effective control over who and what is on the network.

At the same time, a SASE solution can offer the benefit of seamless integration with software-defined wide area networking and next-generation firewalls to enable a superior user experience for corporate applications by automatically finding the most efficient path to those resources, powered by intelligent steering and dynamic routing capabilities.

Secure SaaS Access

Enterprises increasingly rely on Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications like Zoom, Slack, and Microsoft Office, and securing mission-critical data and safeguarding cloud-based information within these apps has become a top priority.

SASE enables secure access to critical resources regardless of where applications, devices, users, and workloads are located. It’s an ideal solution to ensure secure SaaS access because it includes cloud access security broker technology that supports inline and application programming interface–based capabilities to secure critical data. A SASE solution can also offer visibility into key SaaS applications, report risky applications, ensure granular control of applications, and detect and remediate application malware across both managed and unmanaged devices.


Starting Your SASE Journey

SASE is a significant undertaking, but you don’t have to tackle it all at once or go at it alone. Fortinet is one of the only vendors offering a true single-vendor SASE solution with unified management and fully integrated networking and security functionality. If you need help determining where to start your journey or how to tackle a specific issue in your environment, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Learn more about how Fortinet’s SASE solution delivers single-vendor SASE that enables consistent security and user experience no matter where users and applications are distributed.