Five best practices for deploying a secure SD-WAN network

Enterprise networks are rapidly becoming more complex and distributed. With the rise of cloud computing, remote work and mobile devices, companies have more and more users, as well as IT resources that require connectivity.

Software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) creates an efficient, corporate connection based on existing networks. The SD-WAN infrastructure must be carefully designed and deployed to ensure that the organization can perform to its full potential.

To start this type of connection, you must be very careful. Poorly implemented SD-WAN can be a threat to the entire company.

Below you will find five practices that will guide you safely through this process.

Arrange devices to support users

SD-WAN provides a secure, optimized network connection between different locations. Often, organizations deploy routers in their branch offices and near the edge of the cloud.

This type of network is also beneficial for remote workers. To ensure the best network connectivity, SD-VAN must be put in place to maximize the effectiveness of remote workers. To make this possible, remote traffic distances to the edge of the network must be minimized.

Take advantage of high-quality network connections

SD-WAN is designed to improve network performance by intelligently routing traffic over a variety of network connections, including broadband Internet, multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) and cellular networks. When traffic is sent to the SD-WAN device, it chooses the best path based on network conditions.

However, SD-WAN's ability to increase efficiency is limited by the available connections. If it fails, there's not much our network can do to fix the problem. To maximize the value of your SD-WAN investment, it is essential to use a good quality network connection.

Design for scalability

Corporate requirements for network bandwidth are constantly growing, and SD-WAN should be scalable to support network requirements. Deploying this network with dedicated hardware limits the scalability of the solution and requires upgrades or additional hardware in the future.

Instead, businesses should use an SD-WAN solution that leverages the scalability of the cloud to grow with the needs of the organization.

Security integration with the network

SD-WAN is a network solution, not a security solution. While it can safely and intelligently route traffic to its destination, it does not perform any of the advanced security inspections and policy enforcement needed to protect an organization and its employees from advanced cybersecurity threats.

For this reason, SD-WAN should be deployed along with network security. With the rise of remote working and the cloud, businesses cannot rely on traffic flowing through security at the perimeter of the network. A secure SD-WAN deployment is one that provides security along with the network.

Consider an integrated solution

Often, a company's approach to introducing new, significant networking and security solutions is to implement points that provide the desired effect. However, this results in an extensive IT architecture that is difficult and expensive to operate, manage and monitor.

This kind of attitude towards the introduction of SD-WAN can exacerbate the problem. Each device must be supported by a number of security features, which ultimately results in the implementation and operation of several solutions in each location.

The answer to this is SASE (Secure Access Service Edge). This network category integrates SD-WAN capabilities with a full suite of network security delivered as a cloud-based security service.

Cato SASE Cloud provides SD-WAN functionality in accordance with best practices, thus offering a number of benefits:

• global reach: CATO SASE Cloud is a globally distributed network that allows remote employees to access the WAN,
• optimized network: the solution is connected by a network of dedicated links that provide greater network performance and resilience than SD-WAN operating over the public Internet,
• security: as a SASE solution, Cato combines SD-WAN with network security and offers advanced threat protection without compromising performance,
• cloud-based: The solution is deployed as a global network of interconnected points, which can offer greater scalability, availability and resiliency than local device-based products.

If you want to learn more about the Cato Networks solution and SD-WAN implementation, please contact Piotr Kawa, who is responsible for this solution.