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NC Nov-Dec 2021

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FEATURE: SASE<br />

A ROADMAP TO CLOSING THE NETWORK<br />

AND SECURITY DIVIDE<br />

NETWORK AND SECURITY TEAMS CAN NO LONGER OPERATE AS<br />

PARALLEL-BUT-SEPARATE ENTITIES, ACCORDING TO NEIL THACKER,<br />

CISO EMEA AT NETSKOPE<br />

Cloud-centric digital transformation has<br />

allowed network teams to build a<br />

workplace that can be anywhere, at<br />

any time and at the convenience of<br />

employees. This has revolutionised how we<br />

work, and made the enforced shift to remote<br />

and home working during the pandemic<br />

possible. It has also brought challenges,<br />

particularly for security teams who still need to<br />

identify employees and provision access to<br />

the required services in a secure manner.<br />

Before the widespread shift to the cloud, a<br />

security problem was just that; a problem for<br />

the security team to handle. However,<br />

increasingly network and security teams are<br />

no longer able to operate as parallel-butseparate<br />

teams; they have to function<br />

seamlessly together if the organisation is to<br />

operate safely and effectively.<br />

Traditionally both teams could coexist<br />

without significant issues but within the cloud,<br />

the primary concern of the networking<br />

function - performance - is not so easily<br />

separated from security's need to protect. The<br />

protective perimeter approach is no longer<br />

applicable in this new cloud environment.<br />

That means, as networking teams look to<br />

maximise all of the potential performance<br />

benefits from operating in the cloud, they<br />

must find a way to balance security's need to<br />

secure and control who has access to<br />

corporate data without negatively impacting<br />

performance.<br />

Most teams know they need to play well<br />

together and see the need for a change in<br />

attitudes and closer collaboration.<br />

Companies are exploring ways to converge<br />

efforts, personnel and budgets by adopting a<br />

SASE (Secure Access Service Edge)<br />

architecture as a way to ensure neither<br />

performance nor protection is deprioritised. If<br />

early transitions to the cloud were complex,<br />

this next step will be no less challenging. My<br />

job is to support CIOs, security leads and<br />

networking teams to make these necessary<br />

changes and I advise starting with three steps.<br />

Firstly, establish some shared parameters<br />

and metrics for success. By agreeing on a<br />

common set of parameters for digital risk,<br />

network performance, and user experience,<br />

network and security teams can ensure that<br />

everyone is working towards a common goal<br />

with no conflicting priorities. Once that is<br />

done, every activity or change can be<br />

measured and evaluated against those<br />

agreed goals. Each team must be equally<br />

12 NETWORKcomputing NOVEMBER/DECEMBER <strong>2021</strong> @<strong>NC</strong>MagAndAwards<br />

WWW.NETWORKCOMPUTING.CO.UK

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