There used to be a single test to determine the effectiveness of your data backup strategy. It centered around successfully restoring your data from a backup, and you would rest easy knowing that you would, in theory, recover from a data loss event. It was really that simple.

The simplicity of these dated digital environments has given way to today’s complex and time-sensitive landscape. With digital transformation accelerating, data now spans from data centers to the computing edge, supporting mission-critical applications built on intricate layers. Business processes today crucially rely on IT, making any disruption not just inconvenient, but costly. As the highlights, business interruption costs form the bulk of losses in ransomware attacks.

The New Reality Of Ransomware Costs And A Heightened Focus On Prevention

Reflecting this reality, the manufacturing sector often shows a greater willingness to pay ransoms compared to other industries, primarily due to the high costs associated with downtime. Ransomware ganges capitalize on this and frequently demand exorbitant ransoms, sometimes exceeding $1 million from these targets. These perpetrators truly understand the critical impact of operational disruptions in this sector.

Today’s businesses can’t afford the downtime associated with recovery from such attacks as the cost of being offline can be astronomical. The simple need for uninterrupted operation is a vital truth in today’s digital era. Implementing a secure backup strategy is still important. In fact, our team has identified common mistakes that cybersecurity professionals continue to make with their backup systems. But IT security leaders must shift away from the reactive mindset of detect and respond, and turn their focus to full-on prevention.

Ransomware Attacks Are Performed In Stages

Infiltrating your network is only the first step of a multi-pronged ransomware attack. Attackers often spend extensive periods, ranging from weeks to months to years, covertly studying targeted systems. This period of surveillance is aimed at not only locating your data but also understanding its protective measures. As a security leader, this must be unnerving knowing there are unidentified eyeballs surveying your practice. During this hidden phase, attackers meticulously plan their strategy, which may involve compromising backups by deletion, corruption, or alteration, followed by targeting the virtual infrastructure to disable servers. Once these boxes are checked, the process of encrypting the data stores begins.

This multi-stage strategy is referred to as the cyber kill chain, a model used to describe the stages of a cyberattack, from initial reconnaissance to the final execution of the ransomware. This more calculated approach to attacks signifies the evolving sophistication of ransomware operations. Although recent ransomware reports suggest a slowdown in ransomware proliferation in 2022, this trend is misleading. The decrease partly stems from attackers becoming more selective, focusing on targets capable of yielding substantial ransoms. The shift from high-volume to more calculated, strategic ransomware campaigns mark a significant change in the tactics of modern cybercriminals.

Companies Turning To AI For Combatting Ransomware

Security leaders must consider the escalating complexity of threats as the primary challenge in thwarting ransomware attacks. Thankfully, WEI has long recognized the adoption of advanced technologies, particularly those powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Deep Learning (DL) as a top priority for evolving enterprise security strategies. The unique ability of AI to detect ransomware at each stage of the cyber kill chain is essential for protecting the expansive and complex networks of modern enterprises. WEI operates in lockstep with industry leaders to ensure customers are receiving an advanced and custom-tailored security product that is infused with AI capabilities to bolster ransomware defenses. Four key benefits to this next-gen approach include:

• Efficiently handling vast amounts of event data produced by contemporary, digital-first organizations.
• Detecting anomalous and high-risk activities that often resemble legitimate operations.
• Providing complete coverage across all cyber kill chain stages to assemble a comprehensive overview.
• Seamlessly integrating with traditional security measures in a unified cybersecurity platform, enhancing simplicity and operational speed.

The sooner cyber analysts can identify a ransomware attack, the sooner eradication measures are deployed. AI can correlate data from various sources to provide a holistic view of the security landscape, which is vital to detect multi-vector ransomware attacks. Once detected, AI-driven tools automate responses to detected threats, significantly reducing the time between detection and response. In the case of ransomware, this rapid response is crucial to prevent the spread of the attack and limit damage.

Talk To WEI About Your Ransomware Prevention Strategy

A longtime partner of the industry’s top cybersecurity leaders, the seasoned experts at WEI know firsthand that AI-driven security products stand as a formidable line of defense in the ongoing battle against ransomware. By harnessing the power of advanced AI and ML technologies, automation offers unparalleled threat detection, predictive analytics, and rapid response capabilities. WEI can effectively guide organizations with the proven tools needed to not only identify and mitigate ransomware threats swiftly, but to also adapt and stay ahead of evolving cyber threats.

Further fortify their defenses, minimize vulnerabilities, and ensure a more secure and resilient digital environment against the ever-present threat of ransomware. Contact WEI today to learn how and where to start strengthening your ransomware prevention strategy.

The post Focus On Prevention To Solidify Your Ransomware Protection Strategy appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

Digital transformation initiatives have fallen well within the realm of the traditional wide-area network (WAN). Complications with emerging market trends, shifting consumer demands, and increased competition are primary reasons why one enterprise after another has made the jump to software-defined WAN (SD-WAN). And for those that haven’t, well, they most likely (or should) have this on their list of IT investment objectives. If not, there will be compromised business-critical services and network performance.

Transition to SD-WAN Must Include Security

We know that SD-WAN is a viable solution to reduce overhead and support the new applications and services that result from digital transformation. As an IT leader, however, you must also ask this question: Does my SD-WAN strategy feature robust capabilities, especially with built-in security? This goes a long way to ensuring a high-performing distributed network.

Direct connections to cloud and internet resources bypass the antiquated hub-and-spoke security features often seen in traditional network architecture. This exposure, as a result, requires strong security that many SD-WAN networking solutions do not offer, unfortunately. Consistent protection will eliminate security and performance tradeoffs, thus leading to less headaches for IT leaders. Here’s a quick rundown of what robust built-in security features can achieve:

• Critical Application Prioritization: Most SD-WAN solutions cannot support a large number of application signatures or application performance optimization. Ultimately, this creates a poor end user experience.
• Reduced Attack Surface: As great as SD-WAN is, it is still a connectivity offering that enables open season for threats to attack the network. Advanced security solutions must be embedded into each SD-WAN device so all networking, connectivity and security items all function as a single solution. 
• Comprehensive Analytics and Reporting: Total visibility of your network and application performance is a must! Improve end user experience with real-time analytics that help businesses identify networking and security policies that require fine-tuning. 

Five ways SD-WAN can boost the bottom line

Here are five different ways the experts at Fortinet have identified that SD-WAN can boost your bottom line and save IT headaches.

1. SD-WAN improves performance

Not all network traffic is created equally. SD-WAN can be configured to prioritize business-critical traffic and real-time services and steer it over the most efficient route. By facilitating critical applications through these connections, IT teams can help reduce packet loss and latency issues – improving employee productivity and boosting morale.

2. SD-WAN boosts security

Digital transformation is a double-edged sword. While it can improve customer satisfaction and extend market reach, it can also expose an organization to significant security risks. The good news is SD-WAN solutions offer built-in security features such as NGFW, IPS, encryption, AV, and sandboxing capabilities that help prevent data loss, downtime, regulatory violations, and legal liabilities.

3. SD-WAN lowers complexity

Digital transformation initiatives can add layers of complexity to a network. The result is not only a risk of poor network performance, but over-taxed IT teams and the need for locating onsite personnel at remote sites to manage the local IT infrastructure. Fortunately, SD-WAN can ease IT’s burden by simplifying WAN infrastructure – using broadband to offload non-critical business apps, automating monitoring tasks, and managing traffic through a centralized controller.

4. SD-WAN enables cloud usage

Organizations are increasingly adopting cloud services. SD-WAN enables direct cloud access at the remote branch, eliminating backhauling traffic and allowing users to directly access cloud applications regardless of location without burdening the core network with additional traffic to manage and secure. Additionally, SD-WAN improves cloud application performance by prioritizing business critical applications and enabling branches to directly communicate via internet.

5. SD-WAN reduces costs

As enterprises deploy an ever-increasing array of cloud-based applications, the amount of data traveling over a WAN increases exponentially, which increases operating costs. Fortunately, SD-WAN can reduce this price tag by leveraging low cost local internet access, providing direct cloud access, and reducing the amount of traffic over the backbone WAN. According to an , nearly a quarter of respondents expect SD-WAN cost savings of upwards of 39 percent.

Talk with WEI about Fortinet’s Secure SD-WAN solution

As the SD-WAN market continues to grow and organizations transition to a modernized WAN infrastructure, it’s more important than ever that organizations remain aware of the importance of security. Fortinet’s Secure SD-WAN solution is the first to fully integrate security and networking – including routing, SD-WAN, a full security suite, WAN optimization, and integrated management – into a single SD-WAN solution designed to meet the actual demands of the growing WAN Edge market. Contact WEI today to learn more about Fortinet’s solution, and how your enterprise can benefit.

The post Modernizing Your WAN Infrastructure Requires A Secure Solution appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

As global industry evolves, digital innovation that features a hybrid, “from anywhere” business environment has become critical to modern workforces. New formats, like zero-trust access (ZTA), allow employees and external partners to utilize digital resources, no matter when or where they choose to work.

But this new approach creates complications for CISOs and other because business applications and data leave traditional corporate perimeters. Specifically, it broadens the attack surface of internal networks. Combined with evolving threats, this factor dramatically expands the risk of potential breaches.

In this article, we’ll explore how a zero-trust access approach to security featuring endpoint protection can help.

Mitigating Risk At The Edge

Conceptually, traditional security models feature “gateways” whereby permitted entry means users and devices can be trusted in perpetuity. But unpredictable and broadening access points render this traditional approach obsolete. Bad actors can steal credentials and access networks from any device, for example. This threat increases the complexity and risk of more frequent, more nuanced attacks.

ZTA is therefore critical to security as digital innovation continues. With ZTA, CISOs and other executives can ensure all users, devices, and applications are consistently authenticated, trustworthy, and managed. ZTA ensures users have only the correct frequency and depth of access as well.

What Is ZTA With Endpoint Protection?

The ZTA framework features a combination of security solutions that continuously and holistically identify, authenticate, and segment users and devices seeking network and application access. With these capabilities, security teams can:

• Establish identity through multiple authentication and certificate measures
• Enable role-based privileged access
• Ensure ongoing network control through automated orchestration and threat response
• Optimize the user experience, even with rigorous security measures

Essential Zero-Trust Access Capabilities For Modern IT Security

ZTA does more than offer superior security as enterprise attack surfaces expand. Enterprises that incorporate ZTA with endpoint protection as part of their integrated security strategy also enjoy the flexibility to support their business needs, beyond traditional security models.

Three critical capabilities ZTA features that optimize security and workflows on expanded networks include:

1. Authentication for Every Device, Every Time

Unlike traditional perimeter models, a ZTA-based security strategy assumes every user and device poses a risk. In this paradigm, ZTA authenticates every device before access is authorized. Because ZTA provides a seamless experience for users, automated security features can continuously authenticate devices every time a new or familiar device requests access, without adding friction to user workflows.

2. Role-Based Access for Every User

In this paradigm, security teams continuously monitor every user, no matter the user’s apparent risk. As part of this approach, security teams have visibility into the role-based access of every user, emphasizing a “least access policy” whereby users only access resources that are necessary for their roles.

3. Asset Protection, On and Off Network

Increased remote and mobile activity among users means that there is a greater risk they will expose their devices to bad actors. In doing so, they expose organizational resources to security threats, whether they realize a risk is present or not.

The ZTA approach improves endpoint visibility to protect against the risks associated with remote endpoint devices. Endpoint security measures share security telemetry data each time the device reconnects to the enterprise network. This provides security teams with visibility into vulnerabilities and threats, as well as into missing security patches and missing updates to role-based access, when applicable.

5 Essential Features Of Today’s Leading Zero-Trust Access Frameworks

Once CISOs and other IT executives understand the rationale behind ZTA frameworks, they must understand the ZTA market and the leading features each solution provides.

Consider the following five essential features as you review the leading solutions available today:

1. Automated Discovery Classification

Network access control discovers and identifies every device on, or seeking access to, the network. The ZTA system automatically scans those devices to ensure they are not compromised, then classifies each device by role and function.

2. Zone-of-Control Assignment

The system automatically assigns users to role-based zones of control where they can be monitored continuously, both on and off network. Network access control microsegments users in mixed environments featuring vendors, partners, contingent workers, and others in addition to employees, supporting robust capabilities even as companies expand the edge.

3. Continuous Monitoring

This feature is founded on the premise that no single user or device can be trusted, even after authentication, a device may be infected or a user’s credentials could have been compromised. ZTA frameworks continuously monitor users and devices, imposing streamlined authentication at every point of access as a result.

4. Secure Remote Access

The ZTA framework provides users with safe but flexible options for VPN connectivity, improving the user experience even as it imposes more robust security features. The framework also ensures internet-based transactions cannot backflow into each VPN connection, which would put the enterprise at risk.

5. Endpoint Access Control

The framework uses proactive visibility, defense, and control to strengthen endpoint security. Discovering, assessing, and continuously monitoring endpoint risk streamlines endpoint risk mitigation, risk exposure, and compliance. The framework supports encrypted connections across unsafe networks and continuously retrieves telemetry data to measure endpoint security statuses as well.

Consider Fortinet ZTA For A Fully Integrated Security Strategy

As an IT leader, your ultimate responsibility is not only to keep your company, resources, and users secure but also to help users innovate, improve the bottom line with new efficiencies, and generally meet the needs of the business. That’s why the experts at WEI recommend to IT and security executives who are re-thinking their approach to enterprise security as risks and business requirements evolve.

Framework includes:

1. Complete and continuous control over who is accessing applications
2. Complete and continuous control over who AND what is on the network
3. Integrated ZTA solution for Fortinet Security Fabric that works on-premises and in the cloud over LAN, WAN, and remote tunnels
4. A complete, integrated solution coming from one vendor

Featuring comprehensive visibility and control across infrastructure, users, and devices, Fortinet ZTA provides security leaders with the capabilities they need to both protect enterprise resources and enable modern workforces, no matter the location of each user or device.

Fortinet is leading the way with zero-trust for the enterprise

Fortinet offers comprehensive and holistic security solutions for the largest enterprise, service provider, and government organizations in the world. From firewalls to cloud security, Fortinet ensures security without compromising performance. Here at WEI we have expertise across all Fortinet solutions and can help you evaluate and determine the best approach to an integrated security strategy that delivers on your desired business outcomes.

Next Steps: Download our eBook highlighting the right mix of security solutions for your enterprise to help protect your business from emerging threats while keeping your users productive and happy. Click below to start reading!

The post 5 Critical Features Of Your Zero-Trust Access Strategy appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

Regardless of the subject, there’s no one better to learn from than the experts. With this thought in mind, we recently held a featuring Kevin Mitnick, a famous hacker and New York Times bestselling author, James Morrison, a Distinguished Technologist and a former FBI agent, and our own Greg LaBrie, an enterprise security industry veteran and our Vice President of Technology Solutions and Services.

The webinar titled “Hack Me If You Can!” is now available for , and it shared expert insights on key cybersecurity topics including:

• Common threats and tactics used by today’s hackers
• Which new technologies can improve your cybersecurity strategy
• How to turn the tables on cyberattacks through offensive and defensive security strategies

In this article, we’ll share the top three takeaways from the webinar that you need to know to effectively combat today’s evolving cybersecurity threats.

1. Identifying Your Priorities Should Be The First Step In Your Cybersecurity Strategy

In the last year and a half, enterprises around the world have been faced with a substantial, new challenges. In terms of IT and cybersecurity, the exodus to remote working, maintaining that, and the evolution of the hybrid workspace has stretched enterprise security teams to the breaking point. Unfortunately, the bad guys know it and have no qualms about taking advantage.

According to a from INTERPOL, the rapid deployment of remote systems and networks allowed criminals to take “advantage of increased security vulnerabilities to steal data, generate profits and cause disruption.”

Even now, as some companies go back to the office and others delay in-person plans, or adopt a hybrid approach, cybercriminals are waiting for their opportunity to strike and these transitional periods are the perfect target.

In addition to the confusion and uncertainty created by the pandemic and the subsequent rise in cybercrime, companies are overwhelmed as they re-evaluate their security strategy and solutions as they begin to implement a more comprehensive cybersecurity strategy.

During the cybersecurity webinar, Greg LaBrie shared how the amount of enterprise security solutions on the market and the complexity of setting up security throughout an enterprise’s digital environment is making it hard for companies to determine their security priorities. As a result, many companies end up utilizing solutions that aren’t the best fit for their needs or leave vulnerabilities by neglecting to secure certain aspects of their digital environment.

“Don’t just buy any server, but look carefully at your server. Just don’t throw any solution out there, but really look at one of these confusing acronyms like ZTNA (zero trust network access). It means you have to have endpoint protection. It means you need to have multi-factor authentication. It means you need to have network access control and identity management,” Greg shared during the webinar.

“Put those solutions in place and also have a plan B. Have a backup. Have a way that if you do get ransomware that you can recover. That you don’t need to even be concerned about paying a ransom or the threat of paying ransom.”

2. Utilize Penetration Testing To Analyze Your Cybersecurity Strategy

Once your cybersecurity strategy is in place and you’re up and running, the next step should be to test for any vulnerabilities. That’s where ethical hackers like come in.

After getting himself into some hot water utilizing his talents in not-so-legal ways, Kevin eventually began operating a cybersecurity testing company and now helps enterprises determine areas of improvement in their defense strategy.

“I think penetration testing is absolutely necessary, because how do you know what weaknesses are in your security controls? How do you know that your network services aren’t exploitable? What about your web applications?” Kevin said during the webinar.

During the course of a penetration test, teams like Kevin’s make use of strategies that today’s hackers would utilize, using their creativity and expertise to determine how a cybercriminal could gain access and then, figure out what needs to be done to remove that vulnerability.

Sometimes it’s the simplest things that give cybercriminals the keys to your digital environment.

“I can’t tell you how many times organizations we tested that have all the privileged passwords sitting there on unencrypted Excel spreadsheets on the IT drive. And that’s the first place a bad actor is going to look.”

3. You Don’t Have To Go It Alone

Just like any other predator, cybercriminals want their prey scared and isolated. Thankfully, as it is in the animal kingdom, there is strength in numbers when it comes to cybersecurity.

New security guidance is coming out every day and sharing information is one way we can get ahead of bad actors.

For enterprises, another method is to work with a partner like WEI on your cybersecurity strategy.

As shared by James Morrison during the webinar, security is being built into tools that never had it before and while not every solution is going to fit your enterprise, by talking to your IT solutions provider, you can better determine what your cybersecurity needs are.

“Modernization is not just about us tech companies trying to sell the new gadget. There are new security features built into a lot of the things that we do. So, let’s have that conversation. Don’t just ignore it because you think we’re trying to pump a product. If it’s ransomware that bugs you, let’s talk about it. Let’s talk about ransomware avoidance, ransomware remediation, ransomware recovery. All of these things, but we’ve got to start with having that honest conversation. Can you afford $11 million for ransomware? Because if you think your insurance is going to protect you from it, that ship is sailing.”

Ensure a Comprehensive Cybersecurity Strategy With WEI

Having a trusted technology partner like WEI can help you build the right security foundation with secure tools like integrated with Processors, while walking you through a cyber-savvy strategy to identify vulnerabilities and take a proactive approach to risk mitigation.

NEXT STEPS: Watch the webinar for other cybersecurity pearls of wisdom as you take a closer look at strengthening your own security posture. You can also sign up for a one-on-one .

The post 3 Key Takeaways From WEI’s Cybersecurity Webinar appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

In the last six months, the fear of cyberattacks has grown significantly, largely due to several high-profile incidents that left enterprises struggling to deal with the fall out and the general public fearful of the next attack.

Today’s cybercriminals aren’t just targeting corporations or financial institutions. They’re paralyzing oil pipelines, shutting down public transportation, and holding police forces hostage. Anyone and anything can be a target and businesses need to prepare accordingly.

So, what are you doing to protect against omnipresent cyberthreats? Below we have provided five tips that can help IT leaders ensure their cybersecurity strategy is comprehensive.

1. Carefully Consider Your Cybersecurity Budget

According to , cybersecurity spending is to exceed $1 trillion over a five-year period ending in 2021. That constitutes a growth rate of 12 percent to 15 percent a year. However, that the cost of cybercrime around the world will rise to $6 trillion over that same period.

Obviously, there seems to be a disconnect. We are spending more money to protect against threats that are in turn costing an increasing amount of money. You don’t have to be a financial advisor or CFO to know that the ROI on that $1 trillion isn’t very good.

A conducted by Deloitte showed that financial institutions spend an average of 10 percent of their IT budget on cybersecurity, while a 2019 showed a mean of 15 percent.

While there is no hard answer to how much a company should spend on cybersecurity, companies should be getting some type of return on their investment, just like any other IT acquisition. Just throwing money at the problem won’t make it disappear if you don’t have a strategic plan for those funds.

2. Make Sure You’re Focusing On The Right Threats

involving approx. 1,100 cybersecurity executives showed a blaring disconnect between the security solutions their organizations spent money on and the solutions they actually needed to address their most pertinent threats.

While 30 percent of the respondents classified their organizations as “very or extremely vulnerable to data attacks,” 62 percent listed network security as their top spending priority, while 56 percent cited an endpoint solution. As it turns out, data-at-rest security solutions ranked last.

So, why does spending not match up with cybersecurity vulnerabilities? One possible explanation for this quandary is that companies continue to purchase what they are used to or what has worked in the past. However, threats are continually evolving, therefore your required solution sets must evolve as well. Another factor is that many organizations implement security measures without first assessing what their digital environment truly compasses, leading to an incomplete picture of their cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

3. Don’t Get Caught Up On Every New “Best Of Breed” Solution

If you’re involved with IT solution purchasing, you should be familiar with the term “best in breed,” which signifies a solution is the best option available. In theory, best of breed sounds wonderful and at WEI, we stand behind solutions that we can attest are the best solution available for your unique business needs.

That being said, when it comes to purchasing, cybersecurity is a bit different than other areas of IT. Cybercriminals evolve quickly and new attack strategies emerge every day. Trying to stay ahead of these developments by snapping up every new best in breed solution is an inefficient strategy and may actually create more cybersecurity risks. According to a , 40 percent of security professionals say that purchasing from a multitude of security vendors adds cost and purchasing complexity to their organization. In fact, the underscored a direct correlation between the number of security vendors a company had with the amount of downtime they experienced as a result of a security incident.

The bottom line is that more solutions create more complexity and reduce the effectiveness of your overall cybersecurity strategy. Unfortunately, adequately defending your digital environment is more complicated than just picking up the newest and hottest cybersecurity solution.

4. Avoid Cybersecurity Silos At All Costs

You’ve probably heard this a million times already. To be truly successful, enterprises need to break down IT silos. We often associate silos with management systems or data storage solutions and while companies have made great headway over the years in breaking these down, the average cybersecurity estate remains plagued with them.

Each tool works independently and forces IT professionals to perpetually bounce back and forth between tools, creating both visibility and attention gaps. It also creates a deluge of unfiltered alerts. According to the 2020 CISO Benchmark Study, 44 percent of organizations see more than 10,000 daily alerts, of which only half are addressed. The same study showed that 82 percent of CISOs acknowledged that orchestrating alerts from multiple vendor products was challenging.

5. Utilize A Cybersecurity Platform

Today’s enterprises need a security strategy that enables a more holistic and collaborative approach to combat threats, especially as the industry suffers from a lack of qualified cybersecurity professionals.

While many IT leaders are familiar with the concept of solution-based platforms, such as an endpoint protection platform or the platform of tools conglomerated in a next generation firewall appliance, portfolio-based platforms allow you to integrate the products you already use now with the products you may want to use in the future, even third-party products.

These agnostic security platforms, such as , can unify visibility across all parts of your infrastructure through a combined console that vastly increases operational efficiency. These platforms provide actionable automation when it comes to workflows in order to better hunt and remediate threats.

In particular, security platform enables better decision making through comprehensive threat detection, powerful analytics and security policy management. In addition to its security offerings, a modernized security platform provides value through greater efficiency and ROI metrics that can greatly accelerate time to value.

Achieve Comprehensive Cybersecurity With Cisco

As a leader in enterprise security, and with products ranging from to , Cisco can help any enterprise ensure comprehensive cybersecurity. With Cisco SecureX, enterprises can simplify their cybersecurity strategy and improve response efficiency without compromising data.

NEXT STEPS: Learn more about how Cisco SecureX is unifying and simplifying enterprise security in our free solution brief download below. Click below to start reading.

The post 5 Tips For A Comprehensive Cybersecurity Strategy appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

Digital transformation is becoming an increasingly popular course of action for enterprises trying to keep pace with emerging market trends, fluctuating customer demands, and increased competition. But traditional network architectures weren’t built to handle the types of workloads, and complexities, that arise as a result. Even worse, in an attempt to take on the work these architectures – post-digital transformation – can actually compromise business-critical services and network performance.

Ease the headache with SD-WAN

To avoid these complications, many network operations teams are turning to software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) as a way to reduce overhead, and support the new applications and services that result from digital transformation. This innovative technology not only simplifies the everyday management and operation of a WAN, but also delivers a number of real-world business benefits.

Five ways SD-WAN can boost the bottom line

Here are five different ways the experts at Fortinet have identified that SD-WAN can boost your bottom line and save IT headaches.

1. SD-WAN improves performance

Not all network traffic is created equally. SD-WAN can be configured to prioritize business-critical traffic and real-time services and steer it over the most efficient route. By facilitating critical applications through these connections, IT teams can help reduce packet loss and latency issues – improving employee productivity and boosting morale.

2. SD-WAN boosts security

Digital transformation is a double-edged sword. While it can improve customer satisfaction and extend market reach, it can also expose an organization to significant security risks. The good news is SD-WAN solutions offer built-in security features such as NGFW, IPS, encryption, AV, and sandboxing capabilities that help prevent data loss, downtime, regulatory violations, and legal liabilities.

3. SD-WAN lowers complexity

Digital transformation initiatives can add layers of complexity to a network. The result is not only a risk of poor network performance, but over-taxed IT teams and the need for locating onsite personnel at remote sites to manage the local IT infrastructure. Fortunately, SD-WAN can ease IT’s burden by simplifying WAN infrastructure – using broadband to offload non-critical business apps, automating monitoring tasks, and managing traffic through a centralized controller.

4. SD-WAN enables cloud usage

Organizations are increasingly adopting cloud services. SD-WAN enables direct cloud access at the remote branch, eliminating backhauling traffic and allowing users to directly access cloud applications regardless of location without burdening the core network with additional traffic to manage and secure. Additionally, SD-WAN improves cloud application performance by prioritizing business critical applications and enabling branches to directly communicate via internet.

5. SD-WAN reduces costs

As enterprises deploy an ever-increasing array of cloud-based applications, the amount of data traveling over a WAN increases exponentially, which increases operating costs. Fortunately, SD-WAN can reduce this price tag by leveraging low cost local internet access, providing direct cloud access, and reducing the amount of traffic over the backbone WAN. According to an , nearly a quarter of respondents expect SD-WAN cost savings of upwards of 39 percent.

[Featured Video]

5 Reasons Network Pros Implement SD-WAN

How to choose an SD-WAN provider

In today’s crowded SD-WAN market, it can be challenging to know exactly what to look for in a solution. Here are to make sure your solution provides a balance of quality, security, and value:

• Deployment made easy. Accelerate deployment with a solution that offers single-pane-of-glass deployment, management, and monitoring for all components of SD-WAN, including , traffic management, and both components and policies.
• Peak performance. Make business-critical applications a priority with the help of application steering. The right application-aware SD-WAN solution can support a broad range of applications, improving cloud application performance and enabling branches to directly communicate to the internet.
• Great reliability. By gathering granular WAN path information, an SD-WAN solution can automatically fail over to the best available WAN link.
• Comprehensive policy management. An SD-WAN solution with a management console can ensure IT teams manage and maintain universal policies on everything from to application filtering across thousands of devices and applications.
• Flexible connection options.& SD-WAN allows traffic to be routed efficiently over multiple channels, including not only existing MPLS circuits but also the public Internet via LTE and broadband.
• Next-generation security. With every SD-WAN-enabled branch with local internet access, an organization expands its attack surface. That’s all the more reason to select a solution that broadens protection beyond the data center and integrates the security architecture for centralized visibility and control.
• Friendly user interface. By managing SD-WAN from a simple user interface, such as a single-pane-of-glass management and orchestration console, IT teams can drastically reduce management costs, simplify configuration, and accelerate deployment cycles.

Talk with WEI about Fortinet’s Secure SD-WAN solution

As the SD-WAN market continues to grow, it’s more important than ever that organizations remain aware of the importance of security. Fortinet’s Secure SD-WAN solution is the first to fully integrate security and networking – including routing, SD-WAN, a full security suite, WAN optimization, and integrated management – into a single SD-WAN solution designed to meet the actual demands of the growing WAN Edge market. Contact WEI today to learn more about Fortinet’s solution, and how your enterprise can benefit.

NEXT STEPS: It’s always a great time to review your enterprise security strategy. Check out our helpful guide to be sure your enterprise is equipped with the right security solutions as we brace for what’s in store this year from a cybersecurity and network security perspective. Click below to download a copy of our eBook, an IT Leader’s Guide to Enterprise Security in a Digital World.

The post Five ways SD-WAN can boost the bottom line appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

Unless your enterprise’s WAN is optimized, the users located across your field offices won’t be able to take advantage of the transformation process, and it’s these users who are on the front lines of demand fluctuations and disruptions in real time. This is why we’re talking about the power and potential of the software defined WAN (SD-WAN). While software defining the data center is vital, the WAN is the final barrier holding enterprises back from fully utilizing their digital transformation.

What Exactly Is SD-WAN?

Designing and provisioning networks in a cloud-based world would be easy if everyone in your organization worked from the same location. Unfortunately, reality is far more complicated. SDN integrates in order to steer and prioritize application traffic so that critical traffic always presides, and application performance is guaranteed for users.

SD-WAN is based on the same principle of in that the control plane and data planes are abstracted from one another. This allows the WAN, including all branch edges, to be centrally managed without the need for an onsite network or security admin. Traffic flows are routed according to established policies that analyze route availability and congestion in real time. Internet and SaaS traffic are allowed to exit at their earliest convenience while HR and finance-based traffic traverse encrypted through VPN tunnels to corporate.

Technically, SD-WAN is not reinventing technology. It simply incorporates the modern value-driven technologies that your enterprise already implements within your data center and disperses them throughout your WAN. It may not recreate the wheel, but SD-WAN does ensure that all of your users, regardless of location, enjoy the same level of performance and security that your corporate users already benefit from.

The Benefits of SD-WAN

Just like server hardware, you’re paying for bandwidth whether you use it all or not, and maximizing your bandwidth use means maximizing your investment costs.

By segregating your traffic patterns, traffic flows are more evenly dispersed through your WAN, bottlenecks are eliminated, and application delivery is improved. Through virtualization, SD-WAN solutions can aggregate WAN circuits of any type, from any provider, providing the flexibility to enforce load balancing and true redundancy. And with a single, central interface pane, one admin can control the entire SD-WAN at each location.

Industry Leaders in SD-WAN

Cisco

Cisco has been providing solutions since its early beginnings, devising its architecture and functionality to conquer the same challenges faced by the modern WAN. Cisco offers the following benefits:

• Network optimized for public cloud and SaaS
• SaaS response times four times faster
• Seamless connectivity to public cloud for complex workflows
• Predictable application SLA
• No app outages due to networking

VMware

VMware applies its proven data center virtualization technologies to the WAN. Enterprises need WANs that are both reliable and scalable. VMware set out to simplify the process of adding bandwidth links, aggregating them into a seamless congruent pipe system, and routing appropriate application traffic through policy assigned avenues. Like other leading SD-WAN solutions, its NSX SD-WAN solution provides the following benefits:

• Virtualizes the network
• Enables a secure overlay
• Simplifies services delivery
• Provides interoperability
• Leverages cost effective hardware
• Supports automation with business policy framework
• Monitors usage and performance
• Supports interoperable and open networking

Aruba

Aruba’s SD-Branch serves as a Branch Gateway that operates as a central policy enforcement point that consolidates broad functionality into a single branch appliance.

Aruba leveraged its knowledge and portfolio of security, analytical solutions, and wireless networking, and set out to design a new product from the ground up. SD-Branch is not a retrofit product, but a solution specifically designed to meet the needs of today’s branch-based networks, and supports broadband, MPLS, and LTE WAN connections. SD-Branch allows for central policy enforcement at all points of the enterprise, allowing admins to manage application traffic and security for multiple locations.

Contact WEI About SD-WAN

Are you interested in exploring options for SD-WAN? Contact our networking experts to start a discussion.

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