Securing Your Network With SD-WAN – Best Security Practices

To keep malware away from mission-critical applications, ensure your SD-WAN solution encrypts the control plane. Otherwise, hackers may gain access to management and configuration functions.

Look for a solution integrating NGFW, ZTNA, SWG, and CASB into the SD-WAN rather than providing them as separate technologies. This reduces staging time and offers a unified security strategy that’s easier to manage.

Encryption

What are the basics of SD-WAN? SD-WAN encrypts data at the source before it leaves the office, then again on its way to the destination. By ensuring that only the intended recipients can access the message and through packet authentication, which verifies the integrity of each transmitted package, a strong barrier to hacking is created.

Additionally, an SD-WAN solution can provide security for a company’s data transmissions over the Internet and between offices and cloud environments. This means the technology can protect against network threats like ransomware and phishing.

However, it is important to remember that others join a secure SD-WAN. IT teams must plan and configure all aspects of the technology, which can require a significant amount of work. The first step in this process is nailing down an enterprise’s business model and goals. This can help identify mission-critical applications and gauge budgetary and long-term costs. It also helps pinpoint security concerns and determine vendor options best suit the organization’s needs.

Intrusion Detection

A comprehensive network security solution should be integral to any SD-WAN deployment. It should incorporate security technologies such as CASB, FWaaS, and Zero Trust to protect data traversing the network.

Another critical security best practice when using SD-WAN is to ensure that all connections are secure, including cloud integrations. Any unsecured or weakly-secured connections should be removed immediately to reduce the risk of data breaches.

Additionally, enterprises should look for an SD-WAN solution that provides intrusion detection to protect against malware, bots, and other network threats. This functionality enables organizations to block unauthorized traffic based on source, destination, or protocol criteria.

While some security concerns persist, most IT teams agree that a secured SD-WAN can help them achieve business goals such as improved application performance and remote access. Considering its wide range of benefits, IT teams must take the time to understand its capabilities and choose the right one for their business. To do this, they must ensure the vendor can deliver key features such as holistic visibility and multi-cloud integration.

Access Control

Unlike MPLS, which may require expensive network upgrades, SD-WAN offers high-performance, reliable branch networking that can be deployed quickly. It can also connect to cloud services using tier-1 network links with SLAs. As a result, you can enjoy secure data transmission between your office locations and the cloud while protecting your sensitive data from internal cyber threats.

Security for your branch offices is also improved with an SD-WAN solution. The platform enables you to partition mission-critical traffic and assets to protect them from vulnerabilities in other parts of your network. This feature minimizes the risk of a data breach that could compromise your organization’s financial stability, reputation, and customer trust.

Depending on your deployment model, an SD-WAN provides network access control capabilities to prevent DDoS attacks; perform deep packet inspection and filtering based on applications; log security events; support NGFW, ZTNA, and CASB (cloud access security broker) functionality; and more. A centralized security management system simplifies administration and reduces operational risks by automating policies and configuration updates for network edge devices.

Network Monitoring

SD-WAN enables businesses to offload traffic from MPLS and connect offices, branches, cloud locations, and remote users over the Internet, reducing costs and enhancing security. However, these changes also introduce vulnerabilities that IT teams must closely monitor.

Ideally, SD-WAN solutions can provide granular visibility into the network and application performance to identify any issues or vulnerabilities. This can be achieved with various tools, including firewall logging and integration with SIEM platforms to help organizations detect threats and respond quickly.

A business-driven SD-WAN can also improve the quality of user experience (QoE) by providing application optimization. This feature prioritizes applications sensitive to latency and packet loss to ensure users have a great experience even when bandwidth is limited.

Application Optimization

Application optimization is a must for organizations using SD-WAN because it helps to ensure that VoIP, videoconferencing, and other applications work well. These applications are particularly sensitive to data latency and packet loss.

While many SD-WAN vendors include network security features, some do not, which can leave companies exposed to potential vulnerabilities. Choosing an SD-WAN with integrated security reduces these risks.

As with any new technology, testing is essential for ensuring that an SD-WAN solution meets your organization’s security needs. CDW’s Fruehe likens the process to taking a car for a test drive before buying, which allows IT teams to explore different features and gauge performance, speed, and steering. This approach can help you identify potential issues before implementation, so your team can plan for the future. Learn more about how an SD-WAN solution can improve network security and help to protect your organization from the most advanced threats.