Zero trust has become a top priority for many organizations, and it should be no different for colleges and universities. While every sector faces hurdles on the path to zero trust, the journey can be especially complex for higher education. Open networks, diverse user populations, and decentralized IT environments make it harder to enforce consistent security controls.

In addition, there is a prevailing idea that education operates differently than the private sector. While that is true in some regards, the responsibility to protect sensitive information is just as critical for institutions of higher education. Millions of students, parents, faculty, and staff trust these institutions with their personal data, financial records, and academic histories. Achieving zero trust is the most effective way to honor their trust and safeguard the campus community.

How Academic Advising and Zero Trust are Alike

According to , zero trust replaces implicit trust with explicit trust based on identity and context. Users and computers must perpetually authenticate themselves each and every time access is sought. This is not unlike the academic advisement checks that colleges place at every milestone. A student cannot register for courses, declare a major, or graduate based solely on prior approvals. Instead, each milestone requires renewed verification through advisement meetings, GPA validation, and prerequisite audits. In both cases, trust is not assumed from past success; it is re‑established at every critical decision point to ensure accuracy, compliance, and institutional integrity.

Zero Trust is a Gradual Transition

Zero trust is never an overnight transformation. It requires a deliberate, phased approach that starts with identifying your most critical assets, defining access policies, and strengthening identity management before rolling controls out more broadly.

Leadership must also account for the operational disruption that new security controls can introduce. Think of a campus renovation project involving occupied campus buildings. You just can’t evacuate everyone and tear down the entire structure. Instead, renovation teams work room by room, wing by wing, allotting for as little disruption to classroom operations as possible.

Controls are introduced incrementally, tested, and refined so that the business keeps running while security posture steadily improves. The less friction your security controls create, the more readily your teams will accept and adopt them.

Make Stakeholders Aware of the Threats

College campuses are often seen as peaceful, idyllic environments where staff and students are focused on learning and discovery, far removed from the constant cyber threats that exist elsewhere. However, this perception can create a false sense of security.

It’s essential to ensure that university leaders and key stakeholders fully understand the real cybersecurity risks facing the institution. Help them see the threat landscape by sharing clear, concrete information:

• Explain the sheer volume of credential attacks launched against university email accounts every day.
• Provide statistics on the number of phishing attacks targeting staff and students each month.
• Share real-world examples of cybersecurity incidents at other educational institutions, such as cases where research data was stolen, classroom systems were taken offline by ransomware, or operations were disrupted by DDoS attacks or major data breaches.

It’s difficult to gain support for strong security measures like zero trust architecture when stakeholders aren’t fully aware of the risks. Awareness is the first step toward building a culture of cybersecurity on campus.

Achieving Leader Buy-in

One challenge somewhat unique to higher education is the absence of a single, centralized IT security authority. Universities are typically federated environments composed of multiple schools and colleges such as the School of Business, School of Arts and Sciences, and School of Engineering. Each entity has its own leadership structure, priorities, and technical teams and this decentralized model can complicate the adoption of a unified zero trust strategy.

For zero trust to be effective, alignment across departments is essential. Security controls must be consistently applied, and policies must be supported at both the institutional and program levels. In many cases, this begins by engaging the primary academic leaders such as Deans and their executive teams. When leadership understands how zero trust protects instructional continuity, research data, and institutional reputation, they are more likely to prioritize the initiative to their staff. Faculty and staff are more likely to accept zero trust as a meaningful improvement rather than a technical constraint when the message comes from their direct leadership.

Achieving Student Body Buy-in

Students often feel invincible and may not fully appreciate the cybersecurity risks around them. It’s important to help them understand how their personal devices can affect the entire university network and why specific security policies are in place.

Include clear information about zero-trust principles and student-related security expectations during new student orientation. This sends a strong message that the university takes cybersecurity seriously and is committed to protecting students’ personal data and academic information.

MFA, as an Example

Let’s face it. No one “likes” multifactor authentication, so enforcing it universally and without preparation is likely to generate significant resistance and undermine broader zero trust efforts.

Start with privileged users first for when they are offsite as the vulnerability of that type of scenario is easily understood. Once MFA is established for privileged remote access, the next phase can extend MFA requirements to on‑premises access. This step typically requires additional explanation, as users may perceive the campus environment as inherently trusted. Explain what the tradeoff would be for not doing MFA, as accounts without MFA are far easier to compromise and that account recovery and incident remediation are costly and disruptive.

After MFA has been normalized among privileged users, the institution can expand requirements to faculty and staff and, ultimately, to students. This staged rollout allows the organization to address usability concerns, refine support processes, and build institutional acceptance while steadily strengthening the overall security posture.

Conclusion

Of course, implementing MFA is but one of several steps necessary to ensure zero trust throughout your institution. Achieving true zero trust requires a layered set of controls, well-defined policies, and an implementation plan tailored to your environment. If you’d like to explore what that looks like for your own organization, WEI’s zero-trust specialists are ready to help.

Next Steps: In this exclusive WEI Tech Talk, cybersecurity leaders from WEI, Bottomline, and Simbian discuss how AI is changing the future of security operations and what it means for organizations trying to modernize their SOC.

Watch the full discussion below to hear practical insights from security practitioners and technology leaders working at the forefront of modern SOC transformation.

The post Strategies for Building Zero Trust Security for Higher Education appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

Enterprise networks have been viewed as functional, necessary tools to connect people and systems. However, in a world driven by digital transformation, cloud-first strategies, and hybrid work, that mindset is no longer sufficient. Your network cannot simply support your business, it must advance it. 

HPE Aruba Networking offers a new way to think about enterprise connectivity. Through innovations like Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), and AI-driven network operations, HPE Aruba Networking is helping organizations modernize their infrastructure to fuel growth  and strengthen their security posture.

Let’s explore how HPE Aruba Networking’s unified approach to networking and security delivers a strong foundation for enterprise success, and how WEI partners with clients to bring that vision to life.

WEI Webinar: Winning The Network Game

Traditional Connectivity to Enterprise Network Modernization 

The traditional enterprise networking model was based on static perimeters and hardware-centric infrastructure. Users connected through a central data center, and security relied heavily on being physically “inside” the network.

Now, business has changed. Cloud adoption, remote work, IoT proliferation, and mobile-first users have rendered those legacy models obsolete. As Jamie McDonald of HPE Aruba Networking emphasized during , the enterprise security perimeter is no longer defined by a building or firewall. Today, it must follow users, devices, and applications wherever they go.

This requires a modern architecture that unifies network connectivity and security across cloud, remote, and on-prem environments. HPE Aruba Networking’s SASE framework is built to meet that challenge, serving as a cornerstone of enterprise network modernization.

Driving Business Resilience with SASE

SASE is a framework that combines wide-area networking (WAN) with network security services. Rather than relying on centralized hardware, SASE is cloud-delivered, allowing policies and protections to be enforced close to the user.

In practical terms, SASE merges SD-WAN (software-defined WAN) with Security Service Edge (SSE) tools such as:

• Secure web gateways (SWG)
• Cloud access security brokers (CASB)
• Firewall-as-a-service (FWaaS)
• ZTNA
  

This approach provides organizations with the flexibility to manage networking and security from one cohesive platform, enabling consistent experiences and protections whether employees are in the office, working from home, or connecting from the road.

As HPE Aruba Networking highlighted, SASE enables:

• Intelligent routing that optimizes performance across multiple connections
• Cloud-delivered security that reduces dependence on traditional hardware
• Consistent security enforcement across all environments
• Simplified operations through centralized policy management

These capabilities transform the network from a behind-the-scenes utility into a key driver of business advancement. This is at the heart of enterprise network modernization and the shift to agile, cloud-ready infrastructure.

ZTNA and Network Security Transformation Through Identity

A core component of SASE is ZTNA, which represents a fundamental shift in how organizations protect access to applications and data.

ZTNA is based on a straightforward principle: never trust, always verify. Instead of assuming that users within a network are safe, ZTNA continuously validates identity, device posture, and context before granting access. Access is granted only to the specific applications a user needs.

This model is particularly important for modern enterprises, where users often access resources from outside traditional corporate networks. As shared during WEI’s recent webinar, many companies still rely on legacy VPNs to connect remote users or third-party contractors. This model introduces unnecessary risk and complexity.

ZTNA removes the need for broad network access. Users connect directly to applications, reducing the threat of lateral movement by malicious actors. HPE Aruba Networking’s ZTNA solution is agentless when needed, enabling fast, secure access for contractors without the overhead of deploying corporate devices or spinning up VPNs.

The result? Greater protection for your data, simplified access for your users, and less strain on your IT and security teams. This identity-based model is a critical element of network security transformation, enabling continuous protection regardless of location.

Why SD-WAN and SSE Go Hand in Hand

SD-WAN and SSE are the twin pillars of any effective SASE deployment. When combined, they offer a powerful alternative to MPLS circuits and aging VPN architectures.

HPE Aruba Networking’s SD-WAN solution offers dynamic path selection, WAN optimization, and integration with cloud providers like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. Organizations can use broadband or LTE connections with the same reliability they once expected only from private lines. This reduces costs while maintaining application quality and resilience.

SSE complements SD-WAN by delivering the necessary security services via the cloud: content filtering, malware prevention, data loss protection, and more. Together, they eliminate the need to backhaul traffic to a central data center, improving performance and providing consistent security across any location.

One compelling use case discussed during the WEI and HPE Aruba Networking webinar involved replacing branch firewalls and routers with SD-WAN appliances. In smaller sites with no local applications, HPE Aruba Networking’s SD-WAN platform can deliver built-in firewall capabilities, reducing the hardware footprint and simplifying management.

These SD-WAN and SSE capabilities together support true enterprise network modernization and reduce the operational friction of managing a hybrid IT estate.

Simplify and Strengthen with AI-Driven Network Operations

Modern networks are increasingly complex, and managing them with traditional tools can feel like chasing smoke. HPE Aruba Networking tackles this challenge with AI-driven network operations designed to surface insights, reduce noise, and automate routine tasks.

Through platforms like HPE Aruba Networking Central, organizations gain real-time understanding of performance across wired, wireless, and WAN environments. More importantly, the system uses machine learning to detect anomalies, identify root causes, and even recommend or execute fixes.

This level of intelligence empowers IT teams to focus on strategy, not troubleshooting. It reduces the risk of downtime, improves user satisfaction, and provides a clearer view of how the network supports business outcomes.

For leaders tasked with improving both performance and security, AI-driven network operations are essential tools. They help unify infrastructure and elevate the impact of the network on digital business priorities.

More than just insight, AI-driven network operations deliver predictive control, reduce support costs, and improve time-to-resolution across the board.

Why Cloud-delivered Networking and Security Matters for Business

The transition to cloud-delivered networking and security is not just a technology upgrade. It is a strategic investment that delivers measurable business impact.

SASE and ZTNA solutions help organizations:

• Reduce cost and simplify management by replacing legacy appliances and consolidating tools
• Improve security posture through identity-based access and full threat protection
• Support remote and hybrid work with fast, consistent application access
• Accelerate cloud adoption by securing direct-to-cloud traffic paths
• Uncover and address shadow IT with tools to monitor SaaS usage and prevent data loss
• Protect against ransomware and insider threats even when users are off-network
  

For enterprises looking to align infrastructure with future growth, these outcomes are essential. Network security transformation is central to operational continuity and digital innovation.

From securing IoT to minimizing lateral movement in your environment, this holistic approach makes your network a trusted platform for transformation.

WEI: Your Partner in Modern Network Strategy

At WEI, we’ve built our business around helping enterprises navigate complex technology transformations. Networking and security are two of our foundational practice areas, and our team has designed and deployed some of the largest network environments in the region.

We help our clients architect modern infrastructure that aligns with their unique business goals. As shared during our recent event, WEI actively guides customers through SASE evaluations, migrations, and implementations.

Our zero trust and network security practice is one of the most active areas in our business today. Organizations are looking to reduce risk, protect their remote workforce, and prepare for the demands of tomorrow’s hybrid IT environments.

With HPE Aruba Networking as a key partner, we help clients build networks that protect, adapt, and empower. This approach defines successful enterprise network modernization in the current era.

Final Thoughts

It’s time to stop treating the network as a utility. Your network should be a catalyst for secure growth, innovation, and operational excellence.

By embracing enterprise network modernization through SASE, ZTNA, and AI-driven network operations, you can build a secure, adaptive foundation that drives your business forward. HPE Aruba Networking brings the technology. WEI brings the strategy and execution.

Let’s start a conversation about how to reimagine your network for what’s next.

Next Steps: To learn more on how unified SASE effectively addresses the new work ecosystem, download our free tech brief, Enabling The Modern Workforce With Unified SASE. Download our free tech brief,  

The post Empowering Enterprise Network Security Transformation for Sustainable Growth appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

If you’re responsible for IT strategy in a healthcare organization, you’re already managing a high-stakes balancing act: sensitive patient data needs to be protected, clinical operations must run without disruption, and compliance with regulations like HIPAA is non-negotiable. On top of this, your users expect fast and secure access to systems, whether they’re in a hospital wing or working remotely.

This is where unified SASE proves essential. It offers a cloud-delivered solution that integrates network access, data protection, and identity controls, thus replacing the fragmented security tools commonly used. For large, distributed healthcare networks, this represents a strategic enhancement over traditional security models.

Let’s explore how unified SASE addresses the realities of current healthcare security and why it offers a practical, scalable model for organizations of all sizes.

The Fragmentation Problem In Healthcare IT

Healthcare IT environments are among the most demanding in any industry. The increasing number of electronic medical records, connected medical devices, telehealth platforms, and external partners expands the digital attack surface annually. Add in multi-site operations and thousands of endpoints, and maintaining control becomes difficult without the right architecture.

Unfortunately, many organizations still rely on a patchwork of security vendors and perimeter-based defenses. These legacy setups are increasingly difficult to manage. According to Gartner, are deploying innovations faster than they can secure them. For healthcare, where patient safety and trust are highly valuable, that gap carries a serious risk.

More organizations are simplifying their security stack to address this. Gartner projects that will actively pursue vendor consolidation strategies. A unified approach reduces complexity and costs, and improves the consistency of protection across the enterprise. This is precisely why implementing SASE in healthcare organizations is becoming a top priority.

Listen: Reviewing Fortinet Security Fabric, FortiGate Firewall

Why Unified SASE Matters

Unified SASE delivers network connectivity and advanced security services through a single cloud-delivered platform. It combines secure web gateways, cloud access security brokers, firewalls, and ZTNA into one system that is easier to manage and deploy.

For healthcare leaders, this brings several key advantages:

1. Secure remote access: Clinicians and staff can securely access patient data and systems from any device, whether on-site or off-site.
2. Built-in threat protection: Ransomware, phishing, and other threats are identified and mitigated in real time.
3. Centralized management: Administrators can define and enforce policies across the entire network from a single console.
4. Improved compliance: Standardized controls and reporting support compliance with HIPAA and other regulations.

When used to support SASE for hospital network security, this architecture eliminates the inconsistencies and blind spots often found in legacy environments.

Zero Trust: Applying Clinical Discipline To Cybersecurity

Zero Trust is a familiar concept in healthcare. In physical settings like surgical suites and hospitals, access is strictly limited to those with the right credentials and training. No one walks into an operating room without being identified, verified, and cleared. The same principle should apply to your network.

ZTNA, which is a foundational component of unified SASE platforms, operates on the same principle. This reduces the risk of lateral movement and ensures only verified users reach sensitive data and applications.

In practice, SASE architecture for healthcare networks using Zero Trust enforces policies such as:

• Role-based access controls
• Multi-factor authentication
• Endpoint posture checks
• Micro-segmentation around high-value data

For example, Fortinet’s ZTNA solution offers identity-aware access across locations, helping protect data regardless of where users are connecting from. These safeguards mirror the precision healthcare environment’s demand in clinical workflows.

Simplifying Security

Today’s healthcare systems span hospitals, clinics, labs, and telehealth services. Providing secure access across all these sites while maintaining consistent user experiences is difficult without a unified solution.

Unified SASE helps by consolidating all security and networking functions into one solution. Healthcare IT teams benefit from:

• A single platform for security policy enforcement
• Reliable performance for cloud and on-prem applications
• Modern secure access that replaces outdated VPNs
• Simplified operations with fewer tools to maintain

Take Fortinet’s FortiSASE as an example. It includes a unified agent and FortiManager console that allow administrators to enforce policies, monitor endpoints, and respond to threats across all locations. This model fits perfectly with the growing demand for secure access to cloud-based services in healthcare.

For organizations implementing SASE in healthcare environments, this approach reduces friction and helps maintain trust across every level of care delivery.

Addressing Key Security Challenges

Unified SASE directly tackles some of the most persistent issues facing healthcare IT leaders. Below are real-world challenges many organizations face, and how a unified solution helps resolve them:

• Challenge: Disconnected security tools increase complexity and risk.
• Solution: Unified SASE brings networking and security together under a single platform. This reduces operational overhead, eliminates silos, and simplifies policy enforcement across all sites and users.
  
• Challenge: Remote and mobile staff need reliable, secure access.
• Solution: With integrated ZTNA, Unified SASE ensures clinicians, administrators, and contractors connect securely from any location. Access is based on identity and device posture, limiting exposure while supporting continuity of care.
  
• Challenge: Meeting ongoing compliance and audit demands.
• Solution: Centralized policy management and consistent access controls help ensure alignment with HIPAA and other regulatory requirements. Detailed logging and reporting make audit preparation more manageable.
  
• Challenge: Limited in-house security expertise.
• Solution: Unified SASE reduces the number of tools IT teams must manage. A centralized interface makes it easier to monitor, respond, and adapt thus freeing staff to focus on mission-critical initiatives without compromising security.

Final Thoughts

Healthcare organizations need more than tools; they need strategy, support, and expertise that align with the urgency of their mission. Unified SASE provides the structure to protect your digital perimeter while empowering your teams to work securely and efficiently across every care setting.

As Fortinet’s most comprehensive partner in the Northeastern U.S., WEI is a trusted partner for healthcare providers making the transition to unified SASE. WEI offers deep experience in SASE architecture for healthcare networks and helps organizations like yours protect what matters most through solution design, deployment, and ongoing support.

Talk to our team of experts today to explore how Unified SASE can simplify your environment, reduce risk, and secure every part of your healthcare network.

Next Steps: The expansion and non-stop merging of healthcare organizations across multiple locations necessitates manageable and flexible access controls. In our free tech brief, discover why cloud-delivered SASE is ideally suited to meet the unique needs of today’s healthcare industry.

This free tech brief explores:

• Why healthcare is an ideal use case for SASE
• Importance of a universal cybersecurity experience
• Introduction to FortiSASE
• Importance of Zero Trust

your free copy!

The post SASE Architecture For Healthcare Networks: The Future Of Secure, Connected Care appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

Zero Trust is more than just a cybersecurity buzzword, it is an essential security model for enterprises looking to safeguard their networks, data, and critical systems. With cyber threats becoming more persistent and sophisticated, traditional security approaches that rely on perimeter defenses are no longer sufficient. The Zero Trust model shifts the focus from implicit trust to continuous verification, ensuring that users, devices, and applications are authenticated and authorized before accessing resources.

Despite its effectiveness, many organizations struggle to implement Zero Trust successfully. Missteps can lead to delays, security gaps, and disruptions that weaken the overall security posture. This article outlines six common pitfalls that cybersecurity leaders should avoid when deploying Zero Trust and provides actionable steps to ensure a smoother and more secure implementation.

1. Treating Zero Trust as a Product Rather Than a Strategy

Pitfall: Organizations believe Zero Trust is a single product that can be purchased and deployed.

Why It’s a Problem: A successful Zero Trust implementation requires a shift in security philosophy, not just the addition of new technology. Many enterprises fall into the trap of buying security tools labeled as “Zero Trust” without understanding how these tools fit into a larger strategic framework. This results in fragmented implementations where solutions are deployed in silos, leading to inefficiencies, and wasted investments.

How to Avoid It:

• Develop a comprehensive Zero Trust strategy before investing in any tools.
• Identify the business objectives and critical assets that require protection.
• Ensure any technology investments align with long-term security goals and integrate seamlessly with existing infrastructure.
• Treat Zero Trust as an ongoing security practice rather than a one-time deployment.

Watch: Demystifying Zero Trust With John Kindervag

2. Failing to Identify and Prioritize Protect Surfaces

Pitfall: Organizations attempt to apply Zero Trust principles everywhere at once instead of focusing on the most critical assets.

Why It’s a Problem: Zero Trust aims to secure sensitive data, applications, assets, and services (DAS elements), but many enterprises fail to define and prioritize these protect surfaces. Without a clear understanding of what needs to be secured, organizations risk spreading security efforts too thin, leading to wasted resources and ineffective protections.

How to Avoid It:

• Use the Five-Step Zero Trust Model to identify and define protect surfaces before rolling out security controls.
• Classify data, applications, and services based on sensitivity and business impact to determine which should be secured first.
• Implement Zero Trust in a phased, incremental manner, starting with high-risk areas and expanding outward.
• Engage stakeholders across security, IT, and business units to align security priorities with business needs.

3. Overlooking Policy and Access Control Rules

Pitfall: Organizations focus on deploying security controls but neglect defining clear, enforceable policies.

Why It’s a Problem: Zero Trust is fundamentally about controlling who and what can access critical systems. Without properly defined access policies, enterprises risk creating an overly permissive environment where threats can spread or an overly restrictive system that hampers productivity.

How to Avoid It:

• Implement a least-privilege access model, ensuring that users, applications, and devices only have the permissions they absolutely need.
• Continuously refine access policies based on real-world telemetry and operational needs.
• Enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) and other identity verification measures for critical resources.
• Regularly audit access control policies to adapt to changes in workforce roles, applications, and business processes.

4. Trying to Implement Zero Trust All at Once

Pitfall: Organizations attempt a company-wide Zero Trust rollout instead of taking an incremental approach.

Why It’s a Problem: A large-scale, enterprise-wide deployment of Zero Trust can be overwhelming, leading to business disruptions, resistance from teams, and integration challenges. Many organizations find themselves stalled when trying to overhaul security all at once.

How to Avoid It:

• Adopt a phased approach, starting with less critical systems to build expertise before securing high-value assets.
• Focus on one protect surface at a time, implementing Zero Trust controls iteratively.
• Gain executive and stakeholder buy-in by demonstrating early successes with smaller Zero Trust implementations.
• Ensure that the rollout strategy aligns with organizational workflows and business priorities to minimize disruptions.

Watch: AI In The SOC – Cutting Through The Noise With GenAI & Smarter Logs

5. Ignoring Business Continuity and User Experience

Pitfall: Zero Trust implementations create unnecessary friction for users, leading to workarounds that weaken security.

Why It’s a Problem: If Zero Trust policies are too rigid, they can hinder employee productivity and cause frustration among teams. Overly strict security controls may lead users to bypass protections, increasing risk rather than reducing it.

How to Avoid It:

• Involve business leaders and end-users early in the implementation process to balance security and usability.
• Monitor and adjust security policies based on user behavior, feedback, and operational impact.
• Implement adaptive authentication mechanisms that provide security without disrupting legitimate workflows.
• Use automated access controls that intelligently adjust based on risk level and user context.

6. Neglecting Continuous Monitoring and Adaptation

Pitfall: Organizations assume Zero Trust is a one-time project rather than an ongoing security practice.

Why It’s a Problem: Cyber threats are constantly evolving, and an effective Zero Trust model requires continuous monitoring, policy updates, and real-time response capabilities. Organizations that treat Zero Trust as a static implementation risk falling behind attackers and exposing themselves to new vulnerabilities.

How to Avoid It:

• Deploy continuous monitoring and telemetry to detect policy violations and security threats.
• Regularly review and update access controls based on changing business needs and security events.
• Integrate AI-driven threat detection and automated responses to enhance real-time security.
• Establish a feedback loop between SOC teams and security architects to refine Zero Trust controls dynamically.

Conclusion

Zero Trust is an effective security model, but success depends on strategic planning, incremental execution, and continuous adaptation. Cyber leaders who approach Zero Trust as a strategic shift rather than a product purchase will build a more resilient security framework that protects critical assets while supporting business operations.

By avoiding these common pitfalls, failing to define protect surfaces, overlooking policy controls, attempting a massive rollout, and neglecting business continuity, organizations can achieve Zero Trust in a manageable, effective way.

Take the Next Step with WEI

Implementing Zero Trust across an enterprise is a complex but essential undertaking. Without a well-structured approach, organizations risk wasted investments, security gaps, and business disruptions. At WEI, our cybersecurity experts help enterprises develop and execute effective Zero Trust strategies, ensuring that security is aligned with business priorities.

If your organization is considering Zero Trust or is struggling with its implementation, our team can provide guidance, assessments, and tailored security solutions to help you navigate the process successfully.

Contact WEI’s cybersecurity experts today to discuss your Zero Trust strategy and take the next step toward securing your enterprise.

Next Steps: In this new tech brief, WEI Cybersecurity Solutions Architect Shawn Murphy explains how microsegmentation, a critical pillar of the Zero Trust model, helps contain threats by restricting unauthorized movement within your IT environment.  to understand how microsegmentation can strengthen your Zero Trust strategy and protect your organization’s most critical assets. 

The post Six Common Pitfalls to Avoid When Implementing a Zero Trust Model appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

When detecting and responding to malware and advanced cyber attacks, time to prevention is key. Seconds versus minutes can be the difference between an easily closed case and a large scale breach. That’s why the rise of zero-day malware poses one of the greatest challenges in your cybersecurity environment.

Unlike traditional threats, zero-day malware exploits previously unknown vulnerabilities, bypasses signature-based defenses and leaves organizations vulnerable to devastating breaches. In my I shed light on why zero-day malware prevention is not just an advantage but a necessity in modern enterprise security. Below, I explore the key insights from the workshop and identify how unified SASE solutions (with proven guidance from WEI) can effectively address this pressing issue.

What Is Zero-Day Malware?

Zero-day malware refers to malicious software that exploits vulnerabilities unknown to the affected vendor or public. Because these threats are unrecognized by traditional signature-based defenses, they often go undetected until after an attack. This creates a critical time gap where organizations are exposed to significant risk.

In 2019, approximately 2 billion zero-day malware samples were detected daily. By 2024, that number skyrocketed to over 224 billion daily samples, underscoring the rapid growth and evolving sophistication of these threats. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation has only accelerated this trend, enabling attackers to create highly evasive malware at an unprecedented pace.

The Limitations of Traditional Defenses

Most on-premise security solutions rely on signature-based detection and prevention, which match known patterns of malicious behavior. While effective against well-documented threats, these systems fail against zero-day malware, as no signature exists for these unknown exploits.

This reactive model leaves organizations vulnerable, as it can take hours, or even days/weeks, for vendors to analyze new threats, develop signatures, and deploy updates. In the interim, malware can infiltrate systems, steal data, and propagate laterally throughout networks, causing significant damage before being identified.

Real-Time Prevention with SASE

To counteract zero-day threats, organizations must adopt proactive, real-time security measures. SASE solutions are designed to prevent both known and unknown threats by leveraging advanced capabilities such as AI-driven analysis, continuous inspection, and deep learning. These tools enable SASE platforms to:

• Detect anomalies and identify malicious behavior before an attack occurs.
• Continuously inspect encrypted traffic through SSL/TLS decryption without performance degradation.
• Apply in-line, real-time threat prevention across all endpoints, applications, and connections.

Leading SASE vendors – and WEI proudly partners with each – harness AI, machine learning, and advanced detection techniques, updating their models and threat intelligence in real time. This automatic, vendor-managed process ensures that businesses always have cutting-edge defenses against zero-day malware and emerging threats, without the need for manual updates or downtime. As a result, IT teams can focus on strategic initiatives.

Watch: WEI Roundtable Discussion Focused On Cyber Warfare & Beyond

Why Zero-Day Malware Prevention Is Essential

• Advancing Threat Landscape: With AI-powered tools at their disposal, cybercriminals are innovating faster than ever, creating malware that can evade traditional defenses. Organizations must adopt equally innovative solutions to stay ahead.
• Expanding Attack Surface: As businesses embrace remote work, cloud-based applications, and edge computing, the number of potential entry points for attackers has grown exponentially. SASE ensures that security extends to all users, devices, and applications, regardless of location.
• Business Continuity and Data Protection: Preventing malware at the point of entry is critical to maintaining operational integrity and safeguarding sensitive data. SASE’s zero-day prevention capabilities mitigate the risk of costly disruptions and data breaches.

Watch: How SASE Will Transform Your Network & Security With Simplicity

The Role of Inline Threat Prevention

Inline threat prevention, a key feature of SASE, ensures that security measures are applied directly within the data flow, providing immediate response to suspicious activity. Unlike traditional methods that rely on post-incident remediation, inline prevention stops threats before they infiltrate systems. This includes:

• Real-Time Analysis: Real-time analysis evaluates vast amounts of data continuously, identifying anomalies that signal potential threats. It detects unusual patterns in network traffic, files, or user behavior and responds instantly to block malicious activity. This dynamic approach ensures fast-moving threats, like zero-day exploits, are neutralized before causing harm.
• SSL/TLS Decryption: SASE enables the inspection of encrypted traffic at scale, without reliance on the physical limitations of traditional edge firewall hardware. Performing SSL/TLS Decryption at scale quickly uncovers hidden threats without degrading performance.
• AI and Machine Learning: AI and ML technologies analyze data, detect patterns, and adapt to evolving threats by learning from new information. These systems refine detection accuracy over time, reducing false positives and enhancing security. They provide a proactive defense against sophisticated, fast-changing malware tactics.

With these capabilities, SASE delivers up-to-the-second protection, making it a critical tool in combating today’s advanced malware threats.

How WEI Can Help

As a trusted IT solutions provider, WEI specializes in helping organizations strengthen their cybersecurity posture through cutting-edge technologies like SASE. We partner with industry-leading vendors to deliver tailored solutions that include robust zero-day malware prevention capabilities. Whether you’re evaluating your current security framework or exploring the benefits of SASE, WEI’s team of experts is here to guide you.

By integrating real-time prevention, AI-driven analysis, and comprehensive traffic inspection, SASE provides the tools enterprises need to combat this evolving challenge. Partner with WEI to explore how SASE can transform your organization’s security and safeguard your critical assets in an increasingly complex threat landscape. Contact us today to learn more!

Next Steps: WEI provides enterprises with increased visibility at all touch points of the IT estate, and that includes at the edge and applications within the data center. From there, our seasoned enterprise cybersecurity specialists develop and implement the best technology required for your most vulnerable areas. Learn more in our

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Today, enterprise networking and security face a growing challenge stemming from an ever-expanding attack surface and company perimeter (every user and every application is a company perimeter). The front line is everywhere! With the majority of employees working off site, and the majority your enterprise data is off site in the cloud/in SaaS applications etc., each of these factors produce data leaks, resulting in a “perfect storm” for data security.

Our collective goal is to keep data and customers secure. That said, attackers know there is an “attack surface explosion” today. Consequently, zero-day malware (unknown malware) has also exploded in volume. In 2019, companies like mitigated two billion pieces of zero-day malware daily. Two years later in calendar Q2 2022, that figure jumped to 224 billion daily (also fully mitigated).

Companies have more borders and perimeters than what meets the eye. There are:

• Cloud-based SaaS applications containing your internal data and intellectual property.
• Increasingly more mobile users globally.
• Headquarters, data centers and branches with legacy Internet and WAN edge appliances.
• Networking and security point products (one firewall stack, one routing layer, one decryption appliance, one IPS appliance, one proxy service, one URL filtering appliance, etc.), all managed separately, none of them correlating threat intel with each other in real time. All are either becoming or are completely obsolete by the minute.

WEI Workshop: How SASE Will Transform Your Network & Security

All of these items render the legacy networking and security architectures and solutions more and more obsolete in record time, causing enterprises to react versus being more proactive to fill security gaps.

The future of enterprise networking and security depends on how well the features are delivered. Features must excel in a way that is real time, automated/cloud-delivered, reliable, scalable, and flexible versus solving networking and security issues with point products (each one with its own specific targeted use case). When deploying point products, they can be complicated by themselves and complex to manage many of them simultaneously.

What replaces the old ways of doing things? SASE! An acronym which stands for Secure Access Service Edge, SASE is the convergence of networking and security, which is why people in the industry call SASE “Networking 2.0”.

Watch: WEI Cyber Warfare & Beyond Roundtable Discussion

, “Secure access service edge (SASE) delivers converged network and security as a service capabilities, including SD-WAN, SWG, CASB, NGFW and zero trust network access (ZTNA). SASE supports branch office, remote worker, and on-premises secure access use cases. SASE is primarily delivered as a service and enables zero trust access based on the identity of the device or entity, combined with real-time context and security and compliance policies.”

Gartner identifies the key components of SASE, which are:

1. SD-WAN: Flexibly optimize WAN performance across several branches and data centers.
2. Security as a Service: Includes Secure Web Gateway (SWG), Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), and SaaS Security.
3. Firewall as a Service (FWaaS)
4. IAM (Identity and Access Management): Authentication and authorization so that only legitimate users and devices can access internal data resources.
5. Data Loss/Leak Prevention: Prevent sensitive data from being leaked or improperly accessed.
6. ZTNA 2.0: All security services are built on the pillars of ZTNA 2.0.

Gartner also specifies that all of these components are managed easily, via unified management/next-gen security/scalable performance for remote work/cloud adoption/branch connectivity requirements.

SASE is a single “as a service” subscription-based product, combining the WAN (Wide Area Network) edge device functionality (on prem SD-WAN edge devices, bandwidth aggregation, visibility into traffic, guaranteed SLA for traffic, WAN optimization, remote branch segmentation, etc.) with next-gen L3-L7 “security as a service” (Firewall as a Service, SWG, URL Filtering, Client VPN, remote branch networking, Advanced Threat Prevention powered by AI, CASB and sometimes Explicit Proxy functionality).

SASE is cloud delivered and globally deployed, meaning your service, with all the same capabilities, is available globally, is self-healing, scalable, and elastic. SASE is designed to handle more users and more capacity automatically, eliminating backhauling of traffic and users to one HQ, data center, or branch hub, as opposed to point product appliances in one or two specific places (which the admin also must manage and maintain). These point products can be prone to oversubscription. SASE is built on the architecture/pillars of ZTNA 2.0, which is also simple to deploy, manage, and is globally available. This means the flexible service is always close to the user and branch, is simple to configure, and decreases latency (users to applications, users to data centers, users to branches, etc.).

Let’s Also keep In Mind What SASE Is NOT:

It is not “just” an SD-WAN, not “just” a VPN and not “just” a traditional firewall at one or many locations.

• It is not an SD-WAN deployed, then an SSE (secure service edge or security as a service) deployed, and the two solutions either do not interoperate with each other or are not configured to interoperate with each other (like two ships passing in the night or two point solutions).
• It is not traditional hardware, a “castle and moat” network perimeter protection strategy, and does not perform daisy-chaining for on-prem point security solutions to form an “offensive line” of security.
• It is not a series of on-prem “boxes” forming a full mesh over a public or private WAN.
• It is not a creatively packaged telco bundle.
• It is not rigid, stagnant, complicated, or limited (visibility, changes)
• It is not simply cloud delivered SSE deployed without SD-WAN at the customer WAN edge. There are leaders in the SSE space, but a company cannot be a leader in the SASE space without delivering a “secure service edge” and SD-WAN, according to Gartner.
• It is not a one-size-fits-all total replacement for all security solutions for every single enterprise. Most companies could really use a SASE solution, while other companies do not have a fit or a need for it today. All of that is okay!

It helps to think of SASE as broken up into two layers, similar to how we’ve used the OSI model to make sense of networking in the past:

• The “Secure Access” Layer: How users and remote sites connect to the SASE service.
• The “Service Edge” Layer: Once the users and remote sites are connected to the SASE service, how do they route to each other and how is data secured, especially against known and unknown malware as well as data loss prevention, as data moves from site to site or to the Internet?

Below is a user-friendly representation of this:

Despite the SASE “as a service” product, which a customer might be using, the general idea for most SASE Service vendors is that users (connecting via VPN clients, clientless VPN, SDP (software defined perimeter) or Explicit Proxy if the vendor offers this) and branches (via IPSEC capable devices such as firewalls/routers/SD-WAN edge devices) connect to or “securely access” the nearest SASE Service “POP” (point of presence, whether this is a physical POP or a POP within a public cloud like Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Google Cloud Platform (GCP)), wherever they happen to be located globally.

Once connected, they all receive the same next-gen security, “5 9’s uptime” availability of the service, and service capacity-globally. The admin only needs to worry about the configuration of the same policies for every user and every branch (versus managing many products, upgrades of equipment, worrying about scalability, maintaining hardware, power, cooling, etc.). This is the “Secure Access Layer”.

Once connected, the user and branch are integrated with the SASE service, which is inline with all data traversal, also providing location independent, globally deployed and distributed/centrally managed and simple/low latency/scalable and elastic/flexible cloud hosted “next-gen” ZTNA 2.0 focused security features (while also mitigating known and unknown malware) such as:

• Secure Web Gateway (SWG)
• URL Filtering to prevent users from going to unsafe web sites
• Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)
• Next-Gen Firewall (NGFW), which includes flow state tracking, packet inspection to detect malicious content within packet payloads/IPS (signature-based detection, anomaly-based detection, monitoring network traffic and blocks/reset connections containing malicious content and threats)/anti-virus/deep packet inspection/optimal routing/data and packet filtering/malware prevention/network access control to block unauthorized entities from accessing data/secure remote access (client VPN, clientless VPN, explicit proxy in some products)/DNS Security and Phishing Prevention to prevent unsafe domains and prevent users from clicking unsafe links/encryption of data/TLS decryption to safely exchange sensitive data across a network and, lastly, Digital Experience Management/Monitoring (DEM) to gain visibility into user application experience/latency/jitter/delay/packet loss.

Once the user and branch are connected to the SASE service, they have pervasive, location independent, globally deployed and distributed/security as a Service with real-time intelligence to detect anomalous flow and protection for all traffic against known and unknown threats and vulnerabilities at line speed. This is possible within scalable/centrally managed and simple/low latency/scalable and elastic features. This is the “Security as a Service” layer.

In short, SASE is a cloud delivered networking and security as a service, removing complexity and simplifying networking and security, all in one “as a service” globally available product, based on the pillars of ZTNA 2.0. It is taking your network from technologies that worked well in the 1990’s, the 2000’s, the 2010’s and earlier in the 2020’s, then systematically transforming your WAN edge and security, to arrive at the goal of arriving at and keeping your network security built within the ZTNA 2.0 framework.

What is ZTNA 2.0?

Let’s now deep dive into ZTNA, which is a framework for security, not a product. If we boil ZTNA down to one phrase, it is Zero Trust with NO Exceptions.

If we look at client VPN and site-to-site branch connectivity prior to SASE, we typically could not enforce any secure granularity as to which people or networks could access which applications and then what they could do with applications. There was virtually no data inspection. Users and attackers had free access, data could leak out, there could be exploit attempts that we were unaware of, etc. Attackers had free access if they were on your network!

Traditional networks and VPNs were designed to grant full network access, without security for the most part, while most resources were on-prem. This caused many security issues such as:

• Uninhibited Access: You need strict access controls while classifying applications. You don’t want too much access, especially for applications that use dynamic ports or IP addresses.
• Allowed And Ignored Access: Once access to an application is granted, that communication is then trusted forever. You don’t want to assume that the user and the application will always behave in a trustworthy manner. This is a complete handoff of a connection with no more traffic inspection happening. Now, there’s no way to fend off known or unknown attacks
• Too Little Security: Security for all applications, including applications using dynamic ports like voice and video applications, SaaS applications have been completely overlooked. What about server-initiated applications like HelpDesk and patching systems?

Legacy network architectures completely ignored strict access control and, as a result, most people and corporations still have little to no visibility or control over data. Legacy network architectures fall prey to security issues when it comes time for legacy VPN/SWG replacement, SaaS Security and even with branch transformation, only to discover it doesn’t live up to their needs/expectations.

Why should you care about this and why is this important? Work is no longer a place we go, but an activity we perform despite our location. During and after the Covid-19 pandemic, many businesses scrambled to scale their client and site-to-site VPN infrastructure.

So, the ideal situation would be to perform strict authentication, but also restrict which users can access which applications, continuously inspect traffic inline. So, enter ZTNA 2.0!

Modern networks require next-gen security. SASE is a solution which delivers network access and security based on the five pillars of ZTNA 2.0, which are:

• Least Privilege Access: Enabling precise access control at the application and sub-application levels, independent of things like IP and port numbers. Continuously evaluated “Trust”/MFA Integration/Users connect to resources through the SASE Service/session is authenticated/Identify applications users require access to/Secure Application access granted per user or by group (example being security by user(s) accessing which application(s) via posture-assessed trusted device.)
• Continuous Trust Verification: Once access to an application is granted, trust is continually assessed based on changes in device posture during the life of the connection, user behavior and application behavior. An example is continual device posture checks to continually assess any changes in endpoint posture, enforce authorization, ensuring proper user and application behavior, blocking inappropriate user, application, or traffic behavior
• Continuous Security Inspection: Providing deep and ongoing inspection of all traffic, even for allowed connections, to prevent all threats including zero-day threats and block inappropriate application behavior. What if, during an application connection data starts flowing to some unknown destination? An example is if the adversary takes over a connection or was there all the time, the SASE Service will inspect the connections for misbehavior, see exploits, vulnerabilities and stop code executions. This is performed all in real time, whether the malware was previously known or is a true “zero day” unknown piece of malware code or campaign, because anomaly and threat prevention (depending on SASE vendor implementations) should use AI, deep learning and machine learning to stop threats in real time to out-pace the attackers.
• Protection of All Data: Prevent data loss and loss of your intellectual property! It is your data. Take control of it! The SASE Service takes control of data across all applications in the enterprise, including private applications and SaaS applications, all with a single DLP policy.
• Security for All Applications: Safeguarding all applications (not just web-based or DNS based applications) used across the enterprise, including modern cloud-native applications, legacy private applications and SaaS applications. This includes applications using dynamic ports and applications that leverage server-initiated connections.

What do all 5 pillars of ZTNA have in common?

• Trust is a vulnerability. Shift your mindset!
• These five key capabilities overcome the limitations of ZTNA 1.0 solutions especially today when work is an activity rather than a destination, the security needs to be centered around the user and the applications in today’s environment of hybrid businesses with hybrid workforces and the volume of attacks are increasing daily.
• The core of ZTNA is identity and continuous inline inspection and prevention of known and unknown zero-day malware controlling user access. Continuously inspecting traffic.
• If you’re not answering all of these questions, you might not be using a product that does true ZTNA.

Why Do You Need SASE?

To mitigate the aforementioned attack surface explosion, you need flexible, consistent security as a service everywhere, wherever your company is, wherever your employees are, to do one thing: transform your network and security while keeping your data secure. This security as a service also needs to be:

• Inline with all of your data traversing it
• Cost effective
• Quick and easy to deploy and administer
• Must be one service and one environment everywhere globally with elastic hyper-redundant scale with “5 9’s uptime”
• No unnecessary latency due to backhauling data from across the globe to a corporate headquarters
• All of this functionality in one cloud delivered service

The SASE service needs to mitigate zero-day malware natively using mechanisms such as AI/machine learning/deep learning. It needs to replace legacy site to site and client VPN solutions that were implemented years ago. It needs to include and support SD-WAN. It needs to be a Firewall as a service, SWG, CASB, provide security for public and private SaaS applications, potentially be an explicit proxy (vendor dependent), provide deep visibility into all data traversing this SASE service, needs to perform SSL Decryption at scale, all without oversubscription of resources. It needs to be one unified product with security efficacy and security without compromise built upon the 5 pillars of ZTNA 2.0.

Let’s dive into the details of SASE features:

• Ask yourself: Does my organization have consistent security posture everywhere? Or inconsistent security throughout the network? Which product is the weakest link? Can you apply the same security policies throughout the enterprise? Security needs to be consistent throughout any organization. Can my on-prem security product adjust quickly to new unknown threats, without downtime, without having to patch multiple appliances? How many resources do you currently invest (in appliances, Op-Ex, man-hours etc.) in maintaining your current on-prem security?
• One cloud-delivered converged product with one unified console for consistent next-gen security and WAN edge networking versus a “conga line” of multiple point products with multiple consoles. The multiple products are all managed separately with the goal of plugging specific holes, via separate policies and are prone to human error with inconsistent policy creation. None of these products natively interoperate or coordinate threat IOC’s and intel, all of which need to be maintained. Hardware, software patching, power, and cooling all need more admins and more resources, making it difficult to manage and troubleshoot.
• Why cloud-native and cloud-delivered? Customers need a simple/powerful//highly available/scalable/resilient/elastic/reliable/low maintenance (customer only has to maintain configuration!), global (geographically dispersed, no need to worry about placing appliances in certain locations) product to deliver ZTNA 2.0 via the same policies to all users and branches everywhere globally. This also includes to any application by one product being inline for all traffic globally and not bound to one location or capacity strained, with cloud-delivered next-gen security while cutting costs (sun-setting expensive provider based WAN links like MPLS, etc.). Wholistic, scalable, automated, simplicity, reliable, flexible, resilient, global security delivered to all “edges” to reduce the attack surface!
• The SASE product needs to support all SASE features natively, including Security as a Service and SD-WAN, across a global backbone.
• The SASE product must be deployed globally, to extend all features to all users and branches everywhere in the world, eliminate backhauling of traffic to regional corporate hubs while also being able to optimize WAN and Internet traffic.
• SD-WAN, SWG, CASB, Firewall as a Service, Threat Prevention (AntiVirus, Anti-Spyware, DNS Security, URL Filtering, sandboxing etc.), security for SaaS applications (with DLP), encryption/decryption, visibility of all traffic, in one service based on the pillars of ZTNA 2.0.
• Secure mobile user connectivity
• Secure remote branch connectivity
• VPN replacement (mobile user client VPN, branch to branch VPN, branch to data center VPN)
• Remote Browser Isolation, aka secure enterprise web browsing (vendor dependent)
• User edge/branch edge/data center edge/public and private SaaS] application edge policy converged in one unified architecture.
• A single pane of glass, via one console to manage all with one single unified policy for all, with simplicity!
• Deep traffic visibility (with digital experience monitoring or “DEM”), analytics, and reporting!
• SASE is business enablement. All data is seen and processed, the product is always on everywhere for everyone for everything wherever they are, security without compromise, all with simplicity! Work remotely without compromising on security and performance!

Contact the WEI cybersecurity team to learn more about SASE and why it could make sense for your business operations.

Next steps: WEI’s recent webinar focused on Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks. Ben Nicholson reviews Prisma Cloud’s capabilities in attack path analysis, identifying the source of risk, attack surface management, and much more. View the full webinar below!

Webinar: Cloud App Protection Using Code To Cloud Intelligence With Prisma Cloud

The post SASE: What is it? Why is it Needed? appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

To stay updated in the evolving IT environment, organizations are consistently navigating multi-cloud transitions and embracing hybrid work models. The increasing dispersion of users and applications across platforms heightens the difficulty of ensuring a functioning, resilient, and consistent user experience.

For this reason, IT teams must rethink their networking strategy as the conventional application model shifts from data-center-centric to internet-enabled cloud-centric. In this article, we’ll tackle the challenges brought on by current trends and discuss how IT teams can navigate them.

Solving Hybrid Workspace Challenges

Hybrid work models pose significant challenges for IT teams striving to ensure a secure and smooth user experience. According to a recent survey, find it harder to secure remote workers, and 51% face difficulties connecting off-site workers to company resources. As users and applications move off-premises, the risk of intentional attacks or data exposure increases.

Cloud-based security solutions offer a centralized control point; however, effective security requires staying up to date with the latest guidelines, best practices, and solutions. Adopting a secure access service edge (SASE) strategy is the answer most IT professionals are turning to.

Built on zero-trust principles, SASE provides a reliable and seamless connection to applications in any environment. Benefits include:

• Unifying networking and security functions into a cloud-native solution.
• Decentralizing security policies and enforcement to accommodate the distributed nature of end users and applications.
• Eliminating the need to consistently route data back to a centralized data center.

These benefits solidify SASE’s position as a top priority for organizations seeking integrated, cloud-based SD-WAN management.

Investing In SASE

In the era of remote work and hybrid cloud usage, a SASE strategy is essential for secure user and app connectivity across any network. Unlike traditional security approaches, it combines networking and security into a cloud-native solution. By deploying security policies closer to users and applications, it embraces a zero-trust model and eliminates the need for constant data backhauling to a central center.

This lightens network loads and improves the overall user experience, ensuring reliable access from edge to edge. As a dynamic architecture, SASE streamlines IT functions to provide secure connection to applications from any location or device.

Navigating Your SASE Journey

Regardless of deployment and consumption methods, a robust SASE strategy is vital for aligning with long-term organizational objectives and operational needs. The goal is to seamlessly blend essential elements from SD-WAN and cloud security. Here are five reasons we’ve identified to invest in and smoothly navigate your SASE journey:

1. Elevates Your WAN With Cloud-Scale Architecture: This is achieved through the delivery of secure connections, facilitated by integrated multi-cloud access, simplified management processes, and the provision of actionable insights.
2. Streamlines Cloud Security: Begin your security strategy at the DNS layer where you can establish a strong foundation. Alternatively, enhance your existing setup by incorporating additional functionality through an open security platform and seamless integrations. By consolidating security processes and multiple functions into a user-friendly, cloud-native service, you create a holistic solution with built-in security rather than merely tacking it on.
3. Simplifies Secure Network Access With Zero Trust: For a comprehensive Zero Trust approach, it is essential to implement identity controls consistently across both branch and remote workers. This involves enabling policy-based controls for every access attempt, regardless of the hosting location.
4. Platform Simplicity: As SASE should be seen as an architectural framework, consider choosing a single vendor to provide both networking and security components. Opting for a platform approach simplifies the architecture and improves performance and cost-effectiveness. We advise selecting a partner such as WEI with extensive expertise to assist your team in addressing challenges across various environments.
5. Customizable SASE Architecture: Embracing your SASE transition means recognizing each organization’s cloud journey. At this point, it is significant to choose a provider that meets your current requirements while anticipating and accommodating your evolving needs both in the present and the future.

As an alternative to traditional security stacks, SASE improves the user experience by offering secure access across the entire network, including the data center, remote offices, roaming users, and beyond.

Final Thoughts

Many companies are embracing SASE, with . How they invest in the tool depends on their current setup, what they’re focusing on operationally, and their overall business objectives.

For a smoother transition, IT teams should take a strategic planning approach, gradually shifting towards a full SASE architecture. Our reliable partner, , has a versatile SASE solution that provides the agility needed for consistent user experiences. With different deployment and consumption options, you can pick what works best for you and let our team of experts assist you in your SASE journey.

Next Steps: You can learn more about how Cisco can transform your network into an intention-based unified fabric that not only furthers the scalability, agility, and performance of your network, but your business objectives as well. Take a closer look at this stunning tool in our white paper, .

The post Strengthen Security And Networking: Five Reasons To Invest In SASE For Hybrid Work appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

In today’s evolving digital landscape, businesses are finding a reliable ally in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) to safeguard their networks and endpoints. Imagine it as a musical conductor, skillfully bringing together different players in a complex orchestra of networking and security.

Just like a maestro ensures a harmonious symphony, SASE guarantees secure and seamless access to applications – regardless of your location or the device you are using. In this article, we explore how SASE can benefit your business and enhance the security of your data and network in a hybrid environment.

Factors For A Successful SASE Implementation

SASE revolutionizes security by seamlessly integrating networking and security functions into a unified, cloud-native solution. This innovative approach enhances user experience and efficiency with a secure access framework that spans across the data center, remote offices, and roaming users.

In contrast to traditional methods, SASE adapts to the dynamic and hyper-distributed nature of today’s hybrid environments. To make SASE work well for your business, it’s important to think about these aspects:

• Simplify And Streamline: Managing security and networking in a fragmented landscape is challenging. A unified approach is essential for simplifying complex networks and security. It’s important for organizations to combine various network ecosystems and security solutions for better visibility, policy control, and overall protection across all networks.
• Enable Hybrid Work Success: In the age of hybrid work and multi-device usage, networking teams need to ensure reliable connectivity to any cloud. This helps address network performance problems caused by increasing internet traffic and changing traffic patterns.
• Optimize Operational Costs: Reducing costs is a big concern when it comes to secure connectivity in complex IT setups. SASE tackles this issue by using SD-WAN and smart traffic modeling for enhanced security and cost-efficiency across public, private, and hybrid clouds. Moreover, there are several options available, such as:
  • Service-based solutions (SaaS) which ensure quick setup with minimal disruption.
  • Hybrid or co-managed models which offer customization and visibility.
• Collaborating Between Networking And Security Teams: SASE encourages collaboration between networking and security teams. This collaboration cuts costs, streamlines operations, and makes security a top priority.

Investing In A Comprehensive SASE Solution

Having identified the elements of successful SASE implementation, the next step is determining the specific provider for the service.

Investing in a SASE solution is crucial for ensuring optimal and secure connections in today’s dynamic digital landscape. stands out as a top choice due to its innovative features and commitment to address evolving cyber risks. Here’s why Cisco’s SASE is worth considering:

• Optimal Cloud Connectivity: Cisco SASE ensures secure connections for users and devices to all cloud environments. It effectively identifies and resolves challenges present in traditional setups. Additionally, it provides a uniform security approach irrespective of user locations.
• Versatile Deployment Models: Recognized by for SD-WAN and WAN Edge Infrastructure, Cisco SASE offers various deployment models tailored to diverse organizational requirements. This set-up guarantees a smooth and user-friendly experience across various use cases.
• Zero Trust Security Model: This solution implements a zero trust security model to fill security gaps, drastically boosting the effectiveness of addressing evolving cyber risks.
• Simplified Threat Detection And Integration: Cisco has seamlessly incorporated SASE functionalities into Meraki, Cisco ISR routers, and third-party routers. The integration extends to , a cloud-based security orchestration tool designed to unify security infrastructures into cohesive ecosystems. Featuring approximately 350 pre-configured APIs for seamless integration with third-party systems, SecureX is bundled with every Cisco security product and requires no extra licensing. Users gain access to telemetry data and threat information within 15 minutes which reduces reliance on additional Professional Services. This results in significant time and cost savings.
• Hybrid Work Environment Capability: Cisco SASE streamlines management challenges by efficiently enabling visibility of multiple remote users, devices, and data.
• Adaptability And Scalability: Cisco’s SASE solutions are built on open standards and boast robust API support. This framework empowers organizations to fulfill their current secure connectivity requirements while maintaining flexibility.

Cisco’s SASE solution represents more than a current solution; it embodies a strategic transformation. By offering a comprehensive approach, it empowers businesses to proactively prepare for evolving security and networking needs.

Final Thoughts

Cisco stands at the forefront of SASE technology. In partnership with a broad network of collaborators, our service empowers you to customize deployment models, offering robust networking solutions, advanced security features, and enhanced internet observability capabilities.

To learn more about Cisco’s advanced SASE solutions, contact WEI today.

Next steps: Discover more about how your business can implement a meaningful SASE strategy by downloading our tech brief, The First 5 Things You Should Know About SASE.

The post Step Into The Future Of Secure: Hybrid Networking With Cisco SASE appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

Just as you rely on business-critical applications every day in the workplace, those same applications rely on a network that is available, scalable, and secure. But if an enterprise’s network architecture falls on the traditional side, this can complicate matters with the utilization of middleboxes like firewalls, load balancers, and tunnels for packet forwarding. This complexity comes with a high cost, hindering the deployment of new applications and creating challenges for intensive workloads like supporting video or connecting a widespread mobile workforce.

Many legacy networks lack the capability to operate on this session-based model, resulting in suboptimal networking. Despite efforts to secure networks, security breaches and cyberattacks persist, with predicted annual costs reaching . The traditional setup exposes businesses to sophisticated cyberattacks, incurring unacceptably high downtime costs. Fortunately, a solution is available to address both workloads and security issues in the enterprise network.

Addressing Network Performance With Session Smart Networking

Juniper Networks’ provides session-level intelligence and security to the network. This solution, built on an application-aware and zero-trust secure network fabric, meets enterprise requirements for performance, security, and availability.

, when integrated into an SD-WAN solution, enhances collaboration between the network and supported applications. It also connects users to exceptional experiences by dynamically charting waypoints across the network. This process constructs a streamlined and secure application-centric fabric, facilitating a comprehensive understanding of source users, network segments, and destination applications.

Utilizing AI To Boost Network Security

AI is a major topic worldwide, whether you are an IT professional or not. And with cybersecurity initiatives full steam ahead for many of the customers we serve, the convergence of these two areas is inevitable as next-gen security requires AI. The Juniper AI-Driven SD-WAN solution prioritizes security throughout the entire SD-WAN fabric to minimize exposure to evolving threats. This involves:

• Service-Centric Control Plane: Combine a service-centric control plane with a session-aware data plane to provide IP routing, policy management, client-to-cloud visibility, and proactive analytics.
• Zero Trust Models: These models offer the advanced design of the Session Smart Router, replacing the traditional routing plane with security principles at the core.
• Session Understanding: The Session Smart Router processes sessions – dedicated links between services, applications, users, and devices.
• Service-Centric Operation: Operating in a service-centric manner, Juniper models services for specific applications, granting access based on shared policies and validated templates.
• Granular Security Control: This intelligence enables granular security controls, assigning policies, QoS parameters, and access controls on a per-service, per-network basis.

Juniper’s AI-Driven SD-WAN not only addresses evolving threats, but also revolutionizes network security by integrating it seamlessly into the core of the network infrastructure.

Components Of Juniper Networks’ Zero Trust Model

Session Smart Networking relies on Zero Trust Security (ZTS) to ensure no packet is above suspicion. Juniper’s service-centric fabrics transition from legacy perimeter-based security to a zero-trust model incorporates the following components:

1. Zero Trust Routing Fabric: This session-oriented approach assumes no trust for users, traffic sources, or connected networks, regardless of location on the network. The Session Smart Router is deployed to establish zero trust and service-centric fabrics, where routes are transformed into directional firewall rules using a deny-all routing model. All routes and sessions undergo authentication, and session traffic is dynamically encrypted end-to-end.
2. Application-Centric Hypersegmentation: This feature categorizes user groups and devices into fine-grained per-service access policies using a global network data model. Hypersegmentation operates independently of overlay networks. This leverages the existing network infrastructure across public/private network boundaries, broadcast domains, and administrative boundaries.
3. Native Session Stateful Security Functions: The Session Smart Router simplifies branch and data center security architectures by natively supporting session L2-L7 stateful firewall functions, including NAT, encryption, VPN, and traffic filtering. The Advanced Security Pack enhances security with intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS) and URL filtering.
4. Security Policy Automation and Scale: The solution centrally manages application-centric and user knowledge-based security policies, all expressed in the language of business. This results in automated and simplified network security policy management, reducing security operational expenses and overall risks associated with user error. The management system is scalable across thousands of sites.
5. Secure Edge Functionality: protects web, SaaS, and on-premises applications and is integrated with AI-Driven SD-WAN and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) functionality. Secure Edge connectors facilitate seamless integration with cloud-based security services such as Secure Edge, zScaler, and others.

Final Thoughts

In a world where cybersecurity threats are ever-present, Juniper’s Session Smart Router and AI-Driven SD-WAN sets a new standard for enterprise networking. The future of networking is not just about connectivity; it’s about building a secure, intelligent, and resilient foundation that empowers businesses to thrive in the digital era.

Contact our experts at WEI to learn more about Juniper Networks’ Session Smart Networking and AI-driven SD-WAN.

Next steps: This white paper by WEI identifies how Juniper Networks’ location-based networking helps higher education institutes overcome complex technology challenges. Readers will better identify:

• Concerns of higher education IT professionals
• Why network infrastructure is a differentiator
• Challenge of improving remote experiences
• Value of a virtual network assistant

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The era of digital transformation has completely changed the way we work, with remote work and cloud-based applications becoming the new normal. No longer are users and applications confined to physical data centers in office spaces. This traditional setup has given way to a new landscape of hybrid workforces, home offices, and geographically-dispersed headquarters. While these changes have improved digital flexibility, they have also brought new and obvious challenges to network security.

To address this challenge, a modern solution called Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) integrates networking and security in the cloud to provide comprehensive and flexible protection for both users and data. In this article, we explore the benefits of SASE and how it can set IT leaders up for future-ready business operations.

A Modern Approach To Secure Cloud-Based Networking

In today’s landscape, data and applications are spread out across data centers and the cloud, making it crucial to ensure user security. SASE is a perfect solution that has the potential to transform how organizations protect their network infrastructure. It provides seamless, secure access to applications and data from anywhere without compromising on security or performance.

SASE ensures businesses securely connects users – regardless of their location – to critical applications and data. This cloud-based networking approach provides granular visibility of user access patterns and detects anomalies before malicious actors gain access. Moreover, SASE architecture offers scalability, relieving IT teams from managing multiple legacy systems and navigating outdated hardware concerns.

Why Your Organization Needs SASE

Fundamentally, SASE converges SD-WAN, cloud-based security, analytics, and insights into a single, cloud-based solution, delivered as a service, to provide optimal, secure connectivity from every user and device to every cloud. Traditional solutions are typically limited to individual devices or networks. With SASE, businesses unify devices, locations, users, and endpoints within one single platform. This reduces complexity, strengthens scalability, and cuts down on costs associated with maintaining multiple solutions.

Here are some of the benefits SASE can offer your enterprise:

1. Enhanced visibility into user behavior patterns: Implementing SASE enhances visibility by monitoring and analyzing user behavior within your systems, applications, and data. These details inform decisions to optimize processes and tailor services to each user.
2. Robust protection against cyber threats: SASE’s advanced machine learning (ML) algorithms quickly monitor network traffic, data transmissions, and user activities in real time. It also detects potential incidents like malware infections, data breaches, or unauthorized access attempts and automatically takes corrective actions, such as isolating compromised devices or blocking suspicious activities. This approach ensures the security and integrity of your business operations.
3. Improved scalability and organizational efficiency: SASE consolidates authentication, authorization, and encryption functions into a unified platform, thereby simplifying deployment and management and increasing productivity. Additionally, SASE’s cloud-native architecture enables organizations to seamlessly scale, adapt to changing workloads, accommodate growing user traffic, and expand operations without sacrificing performance or security.
4. Protection from unauthenticated users: SASE enhances the overall data security posture of your business by combining multiple authentication methods (such as multi-factor authentication and biometrics) to verify user identities, thereby preventing unauthorized access, data breaches, and insider threats.
5. Mitigated external threats during a malicious event: With its ML capabilities, SASE enhances the overall protection of your business operations by employing secure access controls, network segmentation, micro-segmentation, and traffic inspection techniques. These features enable organizations to:
   1. • Detect and block suspicious activities.
      • Isolate all compromised devices.
      • Prevent lateral movement within the network.
      • Safeguard your business from external threats.

Cisco’s Approach to Secure Hybrid Workforce

, , effectively addresses challenges by enabling secure connections among employees. Secure Connect integrates networking, security, and trusted connectivity within a cloud-managed platform to enhance operations and visibility without the upfront investment. This enables organizations to swiftly deploy the service and reap the benefits of SASE.

Final Thoughts

Workforces are leaning more and more hybrid. Organizations must prioritize the security of their users and data as the modern workforce becomes increasingly dispersed. Embracing SASE allows everyone to future-proof their networks and create an ideal, agile hybrid workforce.

To learn more about how SASE and Cisco+ Secure Connect can benefit your organization, reach out to one of our SASE specialists today.

Next Steps: Discover more about how your business can implement a meaningful SASE strategy by downloading our tech brief, .

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Our review of 2021 IT trends reported that Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) was not only a common feature for enterprise IT teams, but that it will be sticking around for the near future, too. Much of this is attributed to shifting remote work architectures, which have made traditional perimeter security architectures essentially outdated. As organizations move away from a full-on remote workforce and into more of a hybrid model, ZTNA features remain just as important.

What’s The Future of ZTNA?

That’s an easy one: It is the future of enterprise security. About 60% of enterprises either have plans to or have phased out traditional VPNs and use a . Much of this transition has to do with the following VPN challenges:

• A VPN takes a perimeter-based approach to security
• VPNs have no insight into the content they deliver
• Networks are now highly distributed

To date, a little more than 15% of organizations have completed a transition to a zero-trust security model. It’s time to say goodbye to your VPN as we reintroduce our look at two different ZTNA models:

Client-Initiated Or Endpoint-Initiated ZTNA

The first zero-trust network access model is known as endpoint-initiated ZTNA or a client-initiated ZTNA model. This model is software-defined and based on the Cloud Security Alliance architecture which uses an agent on a device to create a secure tunnel to the enterprise network. This agent performs an assessment to determine the security risk of a user’s request to access an application using information such as their identity, device location, network, and the application being used. After building a risk profile, the agent connects back to the application over a proxy connection, and if the information meets the organization’s policy, access to the application is granted. The beauty of this model is that applications can be on-premises or cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).

The Service-Initiated Or Application-Initiated ZTNA Model

The service-initiated model uses a reverse proxy architecture based on the BeyondCorp model and is also known as application-initiated ZTNA. The biggest difference from client-initiated ZTNA is that this model does not require an endpoint agent. Instead, to create a secure tunnel and perform a risk assessment profile, it uses a browser plug-in.

Three Questions For Zero Trust Network Access With Fortinet

Fortinet’s approach to zero trust access can be broken down into : who, what, and what happens after network access.

1. Who is accessing the network?
The first piece is who is accessing the network, which can include employees, supply chain partners, and customers. With a zero-trust model, users are only given access to the resources that are necessary for them. To achieve this, breach-resistant identification and authentication is mandated, with many enterprises going a step further and requiring multi-factor authentication at login.

2. What devices are accessing the network?
The second piece is the devices that are accessing the network. For a zero-trust access strategy to be effective, IT teams need a comprehensive solution to managing and monitoring the myriad of devices that require access to the network. This is especially true as internet-of-things devices continue to grow in usage and popularity. And let’s not forget that IoT devices are an attractive entry point for hackers.

3. What happens when devices leave the network?
The third piece is about endpoint security, or what happens when a device leaves the network. According to Fortinet, a comprehensive zero-trust access strategy should provide off-network hygiene control, vulnerability scanning, web filtering, and patching policies.

Fortinet FortiOS 7.2 Expands Security Fabric

In April 2021, FortiOS 7.0 was released and included several notable features, including ZTNA. As we jump to , there were some key enhancements regarding its ZTNA features we should highlight. For one, cybersecurity leaders can now better manage enforcement due to a unified policy configuration in a single GUI for each connection. As a bonus, there were also improvements made to the ZTNA service portal.

In addition to ZTNA, FortiOS 7.2 assures greater unification on the convergence of networking and security across NGFW, SD-WAN, LAN Edge, 5G.

ZTNA is available right out of the box for FortiGate customers. It also doesn’t require a software-as-a-service solution and because it’s built into FortiOS 7.2, which provides the foundation for Fortinet’s security portfolio, ZTNA is also built into Fortinet’s other solutions, including , , , and .

ZTNA With Fortinet

Fortinet offers comprehensive and holistic security solutions for the largest enterprise, service provider, and government organizations in the world. From NGFWs for microsegmentation to ZTNA, Fortinet ensures security without compromising performance. If you have questions about how Fortinet can help you improve enterprise security for your company, contact WEI today.

NEXT STEPS: Take a closer look at all the security solutions IT leaders consider essential for securing their business throughout the digital transformation journey. Our eBook, “An IT Leader’s Guide to Enterprise Security in a Digital World,” pulls it all together. Click below to start reading.

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As enterprises look into the future of a post-pandemic environment, many CIOs recognize the need for a better strategy that supports a remote and hybrid workforce. While many switched to a work-from-home model as a response to the pandemic, of employees want to continue working from home permanently.

Until recently, the solution to secure enterprise networks has been the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) which function like a tunnel back to the company network. However, with the distributed nature of a remote workforce, VPNs possess limitations and security risks. So, what’s the better solution to secure your network and provide access to applications no matter where employees work from? That would be Zero-trust network access (ZTNA).

CIOs see the value of ZTNA to provide their enterprise with the security they need while supporting a modern workforce. ZTNA is the future of enterprise security. Within the next year, 60% of enterprises will phase out traditional VPNs and use a . To date, only 15% of organizations have completed a transition to a zero-trust security model. Let’s take a closer look at two different ZTNA models and why the future is bright for zero-trust network access.

Client-Initiated Or Endpoint-Initiated ZTNA

The first zero-trust network access model is known as endpoint-initiated ZTNA or a client-initiated ZTNA model. This model is software-defined and based on the Cloud Security Alliance architecture which uses an agent on a device to create a secure tunnel to the enterprise network. This agent performs an assessment to determine the security risk of a user’s request to access an application using information such as their identity, device location, network, and the application being used. After building a risk profile, the agent connects back to the application over a proxy connection, and if the information meets the organization’s policy, access to the application is granted. The beauty of this model is that applications can be on-premises or cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).

While this model does provide greater security than VPNs, it comes with its own set of challenges. Managing the agents on devices can become a chore for your IT department unless a central management solution is able to coordinate deployment and configuration. Unmanaged devices need to be handled by other means, such as a network access controller (NAC).

The Service-Initiated Or Application-Initiated ZTNA Model

The service-initiated model uses a reverse proxy architecture based on the BeyondCorp model and is also known as application-initiated ZTNA. The biggest difference from client-initiated ZTNA is that this model does not require an endpoint agent. Instead, to create a secure tunnel and perform a risk assessment profile, it uses a browser plug-in.

Where the client-initiated ZTNA can be used for both on-premises and cloud applications, a key disadvantage to the service-initiated ZTNA is that it’s limited to cloud-based applications only. With the application’s protocols needing to be based on Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)/Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), it limits the approach to web applications and protocols, such as Secure Shell (SSH) or Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) over HTTP. Because of this shortfall, at this time, the service-initiated ZTNA model is not the best option if your enterprise has a combination of hybrid cloud and on-premises applications.

The Future With ZTNA

The first step in implementing a complete zero-trust solution is addressing the need for secure remote access. ZTNA can be applied to remote users, home offices, and other locations by offering controlled remote access to applications that is easier and faster to initiate while providing a more granular set of security protections than traditional VPNs.

Establishing a zero-trust model across vendors can be difficult as components often run on different operating systems and use different consoles for management and configuration. By selecting integrated and automated tools, you can overcome the challenges of implementing ZTNA. Using a service-initiated model with an integrated firewall-based and SASE approach allows for ZTNA capabilities with a simplified management and application policy whether your users are on or off the network.

Fortinet ZTNA Solution Improves Your Enterprise Cybersecurity

With remote work here to stay, it is clear that a traditional VPN approach is no longer enough to provide your enterprise with adequate security. ZTNA solutions are a better way to secure access, no matter where your employees are, and improve controls around application access. To learn how can provide your enterprise cybersecurity strategy with the best ZTNA model, contact WEI today.

Next Steps: Download our executive brief, “.”

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As another year has concluded, we have reached that time to review the IT trends of 2021. Most IT professionals could use an extra minute to catch their breath as last year continued to push many IT departments due to the pandemic’s outbreak in 2020. To gain some perspective on our year-long journey, we sat down with two senior executives at WEI, David Fafel, and Greg Labrie, to get their perspectives on the relevant IT trends that came about in 2021. We also pulled data from a commissioned study we did in partnership with concerning the state of digital transformation in 2021. The study involved an audience of IT decision makers (ITDMs) across multiple industries that provided insightful and surprising information concerning their IT initiatives in 2021.

Remote Work Transitions to Hybrid Work

Could anyone have predicted where we are now when it comes to workspace utilization? While so many organizations implemented remote work strategies overnight, they most likely operationalized these same strategies as a temporary stopgap. As many people return to their desk, companies are now utilizing traditional office space as more of a “touchdown” area for employees to congregate during select days of the week. Typical activities include team building, brainstorming, client interaction, departmental meetings, etc. For many in the workforce, this new concept is a welcome change, thus leading to the hybrid work model’s rising popularity. Still, it involves working remotely, which invokes change in so many other areas. For IT, it means that connectivity has now shifted to the employee’s home, wherever that may be.

In turn, companies that have adjusted to a scaled mobile workforce have also achieved a dynamic recruiting advantage over their competitors. During the current labor shortage, these forward-thinking companies are recruiting talent far outside their local area because they realize employees can be productive no matter where they reside. If you don’t have employees in your traditional building any longer, you’ve also essentially shifted some of the network and connectivity costs to the employee. It has also freed IT personnel, at least somewhat, from some of their usual support duties as employees have become more self-sufficient with their own IT needs. We use the term “somewhat” because the 80/20 rule comes into play; twenty percent of a company’s personnel will always need help and that select group is consuming a lot more time to remotely support them as internal IT doesn’t have control of these remote workspaces.

Zero-Trust Networks Taking Shape

In 2021, enterprises realized that their expedient transition to remote work architectures required revaluation as remote work permeated within their culture. In an environment in which work can now be performed anywhere, the old reliance on perimeter security architectures is now outdated, and companies are rushing to adapt zero-trust networks. In a zero-trust environment, you don’t treat end users any differently when logging in at the office, or if they were to connect from home or at the local coffee shop. We are now living in a validate-first world in which trust must first be corroborated on all devices. These days, you can no longer assume that traffic originating within the LAN is legitimate because there are just too many avenues for attackers and malware to infiltrate.

Bad Habits Still Present in 2021

We all know smoking is bad for us, yet the people we know and our favorite fictional television characters still do it. Similarly, we know that backups are the golden ticket that can save us from the brink of cybersecurity disaster, yet too many IT professionals are not applying this practice correctly. Many are using backup strategies from a decade ago, or more. Localized backups are too prone to attack and hackers are expertly taking out these systems in advance of the primary attack. Cloud backup technology has greatly advanced, and we are seeing more companies trust the cloud and embrace it because it completely segregates your backups from your on-premises environment.

To continue with the health analogy, we know that a healthy diet and regular exercise are of great benefit, but we procrastinate on practicing these good habits until a major medical event occurs. While ransomware continues to be a mounting problem, too many enterprises continue to use a reactionary approach when combatting it. Ransomware is a war that requires proactive measures. We need network intelligence and network monitoring tools at the network layer to monitor what is happening across the IT environment. For example, why is Lucy suddenly accessing the payroll system? We know she has access privileges, but the timing of this activity seems odd. These small, yet important, instances are why we need to stop threat actors from launching attacks from deep within our enterprise’s network.

IT Staff Augmentation

One of the most surprising things we discovered in the IDG commissioned study was how much companies are utilizing staff augmentation strategies. The pandemic is showing us the value in having the ability to transform quickly to implement new strategies. Having a strategic workforce plan that can attract the required talent for a project as quickly as possible is now imperative. Companies are having to contend with serious skill gaps when it comes to areas such as cybersecurity, DevOps, automation, and cloud computing within their own organization. Companies have found that the traditional approach to full-time hiring is too slow and reactionary to inject the proper talent into their organizations.

To meet this challenge, companies are turning to staff augmentation strategies. We found that a surprising 82% of survey respondents in the IDG study considered IT staff augmentation to be highly important for their organization with more than one in ten respondents ranking it as critical. Respondents also reported that nearly 40% of IT staff is considered temporary.

How Did Companies Spend Their Budgets in 2021?

Companies continued their quest to digitally transform their organizations as 60% of respondents allocated funds toward transformational directives. The top five most popular IT investment objectives are listed below:

• 64%: Improving data security
• 51%: Improving operational and process efficiency
• 38%: Improving the customer experience
• 37% Gathering and analyzing data to make better business objectives
• 34%: Driving new revenue through innovation

Respondents were also asked which technologies they considered to be the most crucial to achieving their digital technology strategies. The top five technologies are:

• 25%: Hybrid cloud (private and public)
• 24%: AI enabled technology
• 21%: IoT technology
• 18%: Hardware
• 18%: containers

Hybrid IT Architectures and Multi-cloud Strategies

The IDG study showed that hybrid IT was the preferred architectural goal of companies in 2021 with 55% of respondents describing their current environment as such. Another 37% reported that their organizations are headed in that direction, but aren’t quite there yet. These hybrid architectures are making use of multiple clouds as 46% reported as having a fully-optimized multi-cloud strategy. These multi-cloud strategies are allowing companies to match workloads to their most optimal cloud environment, giving them maximum flexibility while reducing their dependency on any one cloud service provider.

Improving data security was the top use case for cloud technology according to 59% of respondents. There is no doubt that companies are recognizing the value of utilizing cloud-based security solutions. Improving the speed of IT service delivery was mentioned by 50% of respondents, making it the second top use case.

Want More Insights into IT Trends o 2021?

Next Steps: If you would like to learn more about the IT trends that emerged in 2021 and what strategies and controls that companies within your industry used to accelerate their digital transformations and overcome the many emerging challenges, you can download our new white paper titled, “” In it, you will find a lot of great information summarized from the IDG study.

You can also contact us to speak with one of our SMEs to gain additional insights related to your own unique environment and business objectives. It was another year of innovation and growth for WEI, and we look forward to helping our current and future customers achieve their IT objectives as much as possible.

The post A Year in Review: IT Trends 2021 appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

In 2020, new IT Technologies emerged to drive change in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As many enterprises shifted to a remote workforce, they were compelled to adapt to a new IT environment while still ensuring the security of their organization. As a result, three security technologies – SASE, ZTNA, and XDR – rose to the top in this new era of off-campus work.

At first glance, these technologies appear to be only marginally related. However, despite their differences, there is a commonality that ties them together – a more holistic approach to enterprise security.

With remote and hybrid workforces now a permanent fixture of the enterprise, we discuss these technologies and how they work together to provide a holistic security portfolio that is still relevant today.

1. Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)

SASE redefines the boundaries of enterprise security with its ability to deliver access policy, activity monitoring, threat prevention, and confidentiality through as-a-Service capabilities. With seamless and secure access to applications anywhere users work, enterprises avoid the bottlenecks often faced with traditional access architectures.

Because SASE is a collection of security techniques delivered as-a-Service, it’s still just as relevant today as it was a year ago. With a remote and hybrid workforce, this security technology provides the flexibility your employees need to work from anywhere.

2. Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)

ZTNA allows you to have better control by requiring an applied policy to gain admission to a given target. ZTNA incorporates the concept of identity and access management to define the overall domain of information security.

ZTNA technologies reduce security risks and provide better visibility across your users, devices, networks, and applications.

3. Extended Threat Detection And Response (XDR)

The shift in network security architecture driven by factors like COVID-19 has impacted threat detection and response. The promise of XDR is to bring together detective controls such as endpoint threat detection and response (EDR) and network threat detection and response (NDR) into a coordinated and seamless process.

This threat detection and response technology offers comprehensive capabilities as a managed service, where the integration of processes reflects the nature of an attack, its mitigation in response, and follow-up steps for suppression and protection against future attacks.

How SASE, ZTNA, And XDR Come Together

With the remote and hybrid work environment a fixture of business operations for the foreseeable future, SASE, ZTNA, and XDR come together in harmony to provide you with a multifaceted, updated approach to enterprise security.

combines leading network and security functionality in a single, cloud-native service to help secure access wherever users and applications reside. In conjunction with SASE providing your employees the ability to gain secure admission to the required data they need, allows you to govern that access and offers in-depth visibility across your network. Furthermore, is a simplified security experience that unifies your threat detection systems in one location for high visibility while maximizing operational efficiency with automated workflows.

Employing these technologies together provides your enterprise with a holistic, multilevel solution.

Are You Interested In A Holistic Security Portfolio?

With SASE, ZTNA, and XDR solutions, Cisco understands the need for your enterprise to have a comprehensive portfolio that embraces a remote work environment. Contact WEI today to find out how these security technologies will optimize your enterprise.

Next Steps: Download our Cisco tech brief titled, to learn how to leverage SASE for greater business continuity and help your cloud workforce stay connected and secure.

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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.

Over the last year, the need to support employees from alternative working locations has risen dramatically. However, even as employees return to the office, when given the choice, many are choosing to continue working from home. For IT, this means finding a longer-term solution that can provide the same network security and user experience at these alternative work locations that employees would have in the office.

One strategy that many enterprises are deploying is the zero-trust access model. In regards to network security, this means that users, whether inside or outside the network, are regarded equally as potential threats and that any access attempt could be a possible threat.

In a time when the impact of cybercrime and number of incidents is , this sort of security philosophy is attractive to many IT leaders.

How Does Zero Trust Network Access Work?

Zero trust network access (ZTNA) can best be described as a piece of the larger zero trust access puzzle. , “ZTNA has received more attention lately because it’s a way of controlling access to applications regardless of where the user or the application resides.”

While virtual private networks (VPN) have been a popular option for quite some time, ZTNA takes network security and access to the next level, offering a better user experience and more granular control. With these improvements over traditional options, ZTNA has become a popular, long-term solution for ensuring network security for remote workforces.

Three Requirements of Zero Trust Network Access With Fortinet

Fortinet’s approach to zero trust access can be broken down into : who, what, and what happens after network access.

1. Who is accessing the network?
The first piece is who is accessing the network, which can include employees, supply chain partners, and customers. With a zero-trust model, users are only given access to the resources that are necessary for them. To achieve this, breach-resistant identification and authentication is mandated, with many enterprises going a step further and requiring multi-factor authentication at login.

2. What devices are accessing the network?
The second piece is the devices that are accessing the network. For a zero-trust access strategy to be effective, IT teams need a comprehensive solution to managing and monitoring the myriad of devices that require access to the network. This is especially true as internet-of-things devices continue to grow in usage and popularity. And let’s not forget that IoT devices are an attractive entry point for hackers.

3. What happens when devices leave the network?
The third piece is about endpoint security, or what happens when a device leaves the network. According to Fortinet, a comprehensive zero-trust access strategy should provide off-network hygiene control, vulnerability scanning, web filtering, and patching policies.

Fortinet FortiOS 7.0 Prioritizes ZTNA

To address these needs, Fortinet’s FortiOS, the foundation of the Fortinet Security Fabric, to include several new features, including ZTNA. With FortiOS 7.0, IT teams can “apply ZTNA to remote users, home offices, and other locations such as retail stores by offering controlled remote access to applications that is easier and faster to initiate.”

It also offers IT teams increased visibility and control when compared to legacy VPNs. An additional benefit is that with FortiOS 7.0, applications are protected whether they exist on the network or in the cloud, offering additional flexibility when allocating workloads.

Through verifying the user and device posture for every application session, the attack surface is dramatically reduced and because ZTNA specifically focuses on application access, security is ensured regardless of what network the user is on and where they are located.

An added bonus is that ZTNA is available right out of the box for FortiGate customers. It also doesn’t require a software-as-a-service solution and because it’s built into FortiOS 7.0, which provides the foundation for Fortinet’s security portfolio, ZTNA is also built into Fortinet’s other solutions, including , , , and .

Are You Interested In Zero Trust Network Access With Fortinet?

Fortinet offers comprehensive and holistic security solutions for the largest enterprise, service provider, and government organizations in the world. From NGFWs for microsegmentation to ZTNA, Fortinet ensures security without compromising performance. If you have questions about how Fortinet can help you improve enterprise security for your company, contact WEI today.

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