Takeaways from SDWAN & SASE Paris 2024
This year’s event clearly reflected a shift in focus toward security, emphasising its growing dominance in the converged security and networking space.
This is partially because SD-WAN has matured significantly, but also because networking is becoming more commoditised with the move to Internet first architectures.
The switch to Zero Trust architectures is still deemed inevitable, but most were surprised and disappointed by the speed of transition with enterprise.
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Key drivers for change
- The end of network perimeters as effective defences: Attackers can no longer be stopped by traditional boundary-based security.
- Regulatory pressure: Governments worldwide are pushing for Zero Trust adoption.
- Hybrid workforces and outdated VPNs: The growth of remote work highlights the limitations of older VPN architectures.
Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) requires both technical adjustments and a shift toward a least-privilege model, where users have access only to what they need. Resistance to change remains substantial.
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Challenges in data ownership and privacy
There is a growing understanding of the tension on data ownership and privacy that vendor cloud hosted solutions entail.
- Identity management is essential; this means monitoring user behaviour, which can have significant GDPR implications.
- Service Providers are beginning to think more carefully whether they want the vendors to own and manage the vast amount of data these cloud solutions produce.
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AI in networking and security
AI remains a hot topic. With growing evidence, AI is being deployed to support network and security operations – but nowhere near the dream of autonomous (self-driving) networks and security.
- There is muted confidence that for larger enterprises the growth in SecOps capabilities is at least keeping up with the growth in threat actors’ capabilities. This is matched by fear that the SMB sector is facing growing attack.
- The governance of AI itself is becoming an urgent discussion item. Companies must experiment and grow AI capabilities if they are to survive. This early period of adoption is wide-spread and referred to as “shadow IT on steroids”. Security teams must walk a tightrope to highlight and control the real dangers from data loss, attacks on data integrity, and other issues with AI tools, while not slowing down innovation.
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The role of hybrid architectures
The discussion on de-clouding (moving back to premise) is still there and potentially growing. This does not imply going back to old premise-focused architectures but it does mean architectures may remain hybrid for the foreseeable future, impacting both security and networking architectures.
