Solidifying SD-WAN Security

Enterprises are increasingly plugging on SD-WAN to facilitate business-aware connectivity in a growing hybrid environment. Here is how they can make it more secure

- SOMA TAH

Software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) has emerged as a preferred option for the enterprises to manage and optimize the wide-area networks (WAN) for a distributed and remote work environment in this new digital era. The virtual WAN architecture of SD-WAN allows enterprises to intelligently direct traffic across the WAN, and leverage any combination of transport services including the multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), cellular and broadband internet services to securely connect users to applications hosted across on-premise data centers, and public or private clouds.

SD-WAN expanded the boundaries of enterprise digital infrastructure across branches, the internet, and the cloud, augmented application performance and the user experience. It has enhanced the control, visibility and insights on the application as well. The added flexibility and scalability, however, come at a price. The virtualization, sprawl, and visibility often play out as a slippery, complex and expanded attack surface for them. As the traffic no longer passes through a centralized location for policy enforcement and security filtering, it leaves enterprises extremely vulnerable to cyber threats.

Dealing with complex, expanded attack surface