The Role Of SD-WAN Cryptography Solutions In Securing Your Network

As contemporary enterprises strive to stay ahead of the curve, they’re relying on more technologies and practices like cloud SaaS and even BYOD policies, but they also need innovative security solutions to keep up with the increased exposure to cyberattacks.

This is where software-defined wide-area networks or SD-WAN solutions come into the picture. These solutions — particularly SD-WAN cryptography solutions — help to protect organisational networks against cybersecurity vulnerabilities and enable access to cloud applications in multi-cloud environments.

Today, SD-WAN solutions are used increasingly by organisations requiring fast, scalable, and flexible connectivity among different network environments.

What can you expect from SD-WAN solutions?

SD-WAN solutions adopt several cyber defence protocols to ensure the security of your network.

Take network segmentation, for example. By enabling segmentation within your organisation’s network, you can limit the attack surface of their highly sensitive data and systems and minimise the impact of a successful attack on your domain.

Segmentation contains an attack and prevents lateral movement of an attack within your network, drastically reducing the impact it has on your internal operations.

Unified threat management (UTM) is another feature of SD-WAN solutions. UTM delivers multiple security functions through a single service designed to protect business infrastructure against cybersecurity threats. This combined security approach provides a unified security posture over geographically dispersed, distributed networks, making it highly effective for modern workplaces that extend beyond physical building structures.

This means that even when your network extends over multiple workstations, such as the main branch, remote workstations, and employees working from home, UTM features and next-generation firewall capabilities can protect your expanding perimeters.

Another prominent security feature of a software-defined wide-area network is SD-WAN cryptography which ensures the safety, security, and integrity of your communications at all times. Software-defined networking (SDN) management connects network locations with a secure tunnel using AES256 encryption, making sure that your data in transit is secure at all times.

Complex network architectures that contain multiple devices and remote users who are more susceptible to cyberattacks than ever can employ SD-WAN cryptography solutions to prevent network breaches and data losses.

How do SD-WAN cryptography solutions ensure the security of your network?

Cryptography has long been trusted to store and transfer data so that only the intended recipient can read and process it. SD-WAN cryptographic solutions enable this in several ways.

Ensures compliance

Whether your company operates in a highly regulated industry like financial services or operates within the government sector, ensuring compliance with the relevant industry regulations — such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) or the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) — is a must.

Industry-standard encryption combined with other practices such as network segmentation capabilities of SD-WAN is especially relevant for organisations to upgrade their cyber defence solutions and meet both national and international data protection standards.

Transmits data safely

SD-WAN cryptography ensures secure and reliable internet connections with the help of encrypted tunnels between every site in the SD-WAN (for inter-branch and branch-to-headquarters traffic).

This enhances the internet with the security of a virtual private network (VPN), but without the usually complex process of configuring a VPN.

In addition, SD-WAN also enables seamless and secure connectivity to cloud environments and endpoints, optimising your cloud experience and preventing data loss from cloud attacks.

Protects the integrity of your communications

With an SD-WAN solution employing technologies such as AES protocol to encrypt data that’s communicated via a network, you can be assured that your sensitive data is protected at all times. SD-WAN cryptography will ensure that the most confidential data of your organisation will remain unused by malicious parties, even in the case of a successful breach.

SD-WAN protocols inspect all the network data traffic to make sure it’s not being interfered with and let you identify suspicious activities immediately.

Establishes end-to-end security

The authentication protocol in SD-WAN cryptography solutions ensures that only verified devices can connect to your network and send traffic to one another, and confirms that the two endpoints communicating with each other are valid and authentic.

By taking care of each application at all branches and remote locations, SD-WAN cryptography ensures that only authorised persons can access and/or view the specific application on the corporate network.

What are the security benefits you can enjoy with SD-WAN solutions?

When implemented right, the encryption and other network security practices of a software-defined wide-area network promise the following benefits to contemporary organisations:

● Allows remote sites to connect easily to networks, data centres, and multi-cloud environments faster with better performance and reliable connectivity

● Establishes better control of network end-points security, enabling organisations to reduce network bandwidth costs and capital costs

● Automates processes to make connectivity a simpler process across mixed working environments, including on-premise, hybrid, and cloud

● Enables private, secure, and direct internet access

SD-WAN solutions are ideal for expanding networks

As your organisation adopts new technologies and devices, a flexible solution like a software-defined wide-area network helps secure communication at all times.

The changes in workplaces and the adoption of innovation mean network edges are always expanding. SD-WAN cryptography is an ideal solution to meet the ever-changing cyber defence needs of these networks that expand across large geographical distances.