Important Security Considerations for Large-Scale Network Deployment
When it comes to network deployment, a pragmatic approach to security is one of the most significant concerns – especially when the deployments involve large-scale networks. Below are common network considerations for any size deployment. Although these considerations are important across the board, it’s important to note that these aspects are far more substantial for multi-site organizations.
Lack of on-site IT staff. Multi-location businesses with remote sites often have few or sometimes even no field IT staff, making it vital that the WAN require zero touch provisioning.
Complicated, multi-appliance solution. Many WAN network configurations consist of numerous boxes and appliances, each added with each new app or service that is added to the network. This makes it difficult to secure and manage remotely, and organizations often lack on-site support that understands how it works (see point one above) – making it likely that it will not be kept up-to-date with security patches and manual configuration will probably result in configuration errors.
Prime target for security breaches. Networks with remote sites usually carry immense amounts of data that contain sensitive, personally identifiable information, making them a prime target for cybercriminals.
Different requirements for different sites. A multi-site network serves a wide variety of locations, potentially with different needs – making the ability to accommodate to multi-tenancy critical for both security and privacy.
Varied networks. For large enterprises, a WAN is likely to consist of a variety of networks – including legacy networks and next generation networks that lack consistent security protocols, or even lack security altogether.
Non-IT-approved apps. Any network faces the threat of users installing applications not authorized by IT, allowing potential visibility into these applications and exposing any underlying vulnerabilities.
With secure SD-WAN, your existing network is overlaid with a virtual software layer to protect your data and applications with a defense-in-depth approach. A managed, secure SD-WAN solution automates the entire process, offering a completely integrated and viable long-term solution. With 24-hour monitoring and support, you add proactive security and business continuity to zero touch deployments and operation, eliminating the need to manage a data center and WAN performance, or send technicians to remote sites for maintenance and security patches. A managed cloud solution automates these tasks both centrally and remotely.
There are several advantages to the managed, secure SD-WAN approach. First, it’s more economical, dropping capital expenses, recurring WAN costs, and human resources. Second, it safeguards your primary business by providing agility and business continuity through redundant systems, continuous upgrades, and the ability to access data on-demand from any device or location. Third, if you are a B2C organization, it frees you up to focus on your unified commerce strategy by implementing customer experience-influencing apps quickly over low-cost broadband without having to worry about security and performance.
Think you could benefit from the advantages of a secure, managed SD-WAN solution? Contact us to learn more.
