Security in the network
Several trends are driving the security architecture that enterprises are adopting in an SD-WAN environment. These include:
- There is an increasing need to reach the Internet closer to the edge, rather than backhauling traffic. Major SaaS vendors, including Google and Microsoft, have deployed extensive CDNs and intelligently distribute content to improve end user experience. Backhauling traffic negates many of the benefits this would otherwise provide
- Cloud-based security services are gaining market share. Enterprises are increasingly adopting services like Zscaler to secure outbound Internet connectivity (including user authentication, policy management, logging, etc.) without dedicated security appliances. Service chaining with SD-WAN can greatly simplify the process of redirecting traffic intelligently to these services
- Regionalized next-generation firewalls can be used for specific traffic types. For non-web traffic that requires an additional level of inspection, control or filtering, next-generation firewalls can be deployed regionally. Again, SD-WAN policies can redirect specific traffic to the nearest inspection point, without the traditional complexity of policy based routing or other configuration