Cisco has announced the expansion of its Safe Access Service Edge (SASE) offering. This is a significant step forward in Cisco’s mission to dramatically simplify security and Networking by assisting network Operations (NetOps) and Security Operations (SecOps) teams in connecting users to applications securely.
Work is no longer a place but an activity, and latest happenings around the world have made working from anywhere the norm. Simultaneously, this trend increased the difficulty of managing networks and security across a larger attack surface of users, devices, applications, and data.
Cisco SASE
Cisco today announced the opportunity to purchase all core SASE product components in a single deal, with the option to move to a single subscription service in the future, allowing companies to immediately begin using Cisco’s integrated architecture.
Cisco offers networking, remote access, cloud security, zero-trust network access, and observability as building blocks for a SASE architecture. Cisco’s goal is to integrate these capabilities into a single subscription service that will provide customers with seamless, safe access to any application, over any network or cloud, and from wherever they operate.
Commenting on the development, Gee Rittenhouse, SVP and GM of Cisco’s Security Business Group, said “As the workforce is increasingly hybrid, traditional network and security frameworks can no longer keep pace with this new way of doing business. There has never been a more critical time to deliver something radically different, as every customer is unique and needs flexibility when determining how a SASE architecture fits into their environment. When it comes to transformation, there is no one-size-fits-all approach and moving to a SASE framework is no different,”
“Today’s announcement enables organizations to start using all of the core building blocks of a SASE architecture immediately, making it simpler than ever to continue your journey to SASE.” Gee added.
SecureX – Simplifying Security
Cisco is on a mission to simplify and protect customers from emerging threats in addition to making the SASE journey easier for them. With SecureX technology improvements that reduce SecOps dwell time and automate tasks associated with detecting and remediating threats, Cisco is now providing full security from endpoint to cloud. SolarWinds supply chain attack, phishing investigations, and threat investigations are among the new automated workflows that use the most up-to-date information from Cisco Talos, one of the world’s largest commercial threat intelligence teams. These improvements cut the time it takes to identify threats by 95% and the time it takes to remediate by 85%.
In addition to the various Cisco technology integrations in SecureX, such as Cisco Secure Endpoint and Cisco Umbrella, the open platform also offers turnkey configuration with over 35 third-party technologies, such as Google, ServiceNow, Splunk, and others.
Cisco is announcing convergence and automation at the backend, in addition to introducing simplicity at the platform level. Cisco Secure Client, a newly integrated connector for Cisco Secure Endpoint, AnyConnect, and Umbrella, makes deployment and management easier, resulting in increased performance and effectiveness.