SD-WAN For Remote Employees

Digital Transformation is Changing the Work Landscape 

Today digital transformation is being driven by both organizations and applications moving to the cloud. Part of this movement can be contributed to the current need for remote work. However, most of the drive for digital transformation is due to the technological advantages of the cloud. 

Though the cloud and remote work are appealing for many businesses, most organizations cannot support a remote workforce because they are using a hub-and-spoke model, which is a latency nightmare for remote workers. Other businesses are using VPNs which are a poor long-term solution. The alternative technology to leveraging a remote workforce is going direct-to-cloud with SD-WAN.       

The Security Risks of SD-WAN

SD-WAN offers greater performance, cost efficiency, scalability, redundancy/resilient network, increased productivity, and simplified management. Yet for all of its advantages SD-WAN presents security risks. 

SD-WAN, or Software-Defined Wide Area Network, dynamically routes traffic across branches, data centers, and clouds to achieve maximum WAN coverage. In this process, SD-WAN creates many gateways to the internet. Having too many points of entry allow hostile players (i.e. hackers) to slip into a business’s network. 

Subsequently, one might ask if SD-WAN is still worth it? The answer is 100% yes. The advantages of SD-WAN are numerous, and the security risks created by SD-WAN can be addressed and minimized. 

How to Address the Security Risks of SD-WAN

The two fundamentals of cybersecurity are visibility and control. In the case of SD-WAN, you must have a plan in place to protect your gateways through greater visibility and control. 

First, you need to identify the locations that have to be protected be they the remote employees, branch office, or the cloud. Then, deploy firewalls at these gateways so you can control and monitor what is coming into your network from the outside. 

You must be diligent when examining the data that is collected by your firewall logs. Investigate and respond to possible or existing threats. Also, make sure that your firewall logs are turned on as they can sometimes be turned off to conserve bandwidth.

Additional Options: Unified Threat Management 

With the addition of firewalls, you should also consider deploying unified threat management to address the security risks of SD-WAN. UTM is a single hardware or software installation that provides multiple security functions at a single point on a network.

A UTM appliance or tool will provide the control you need to protect your gateways. UTM is also preferable to a single IT employee, who won’t be able to stay up for hours on end searching for every malicious threat. 

A truly effective threat protection system can be hard to achieve on your own, nevertheless, there are various organizations, like AT&T, who offer global security gateways and threat management. 

Conclusion

SD-WAN is an advantageous technology that should not be abandoned because of its security risks. Rather, SD-WAN’s security risks should be addressed through the monitoring of gateways via firewalls and UTM. All technologies have security issues; it is up to your business to determine if you have the means of addressing these issues.  

Conectrix is a corporate technology management company representing over 250+ suppliers. If you have any questions about cybersecurity, SD-WAN, or other telecommunications topics, do not hesitate to reach out to us and see if we can add greater visibility to your current environment.