ELI5: What is Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)?
Instead of having all your security guards at the front gate of one building, SASE puts security guards everywhere in the cloud. No matter where you are working from — home, school, or a coffee shop — the guards are right there protecting you.
Definition
Secure Access Service Edge (SASE, pronounced “sassy”) is a cloud-delivered security framework that converges wide-area networking (WAN) capabilities with comprehensive network security services into a single, cloud-native service model. SASE moves security functions from the traditional data center perimeter to a distributed cloud edge, delivering consistent security to users regardless of their location.
Key Details
- Combines: SD-WAN, Secure Web Gateway (SWG), Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), and Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS)
- Designed for the modern distributed workforce — security follows the user, not the perimeter
- Gartner coined the term in 2019 to describe this architectural convergence
- Reduces complexity by replacing multiple point solutions with a single vendor’s cloud service
- Examples: Zscaler, Cisco Umbrella, Palo Alto Prisma Access, Netskope
Connections
- Parent: network-security-architecture — SASE is a modern cloud-centric security architecture pattern
- See also: zero-trust-architecture