Security Service Edge: The cybersecurity framework for today

by Don Tan, Senior Director APAC at Lookout

It is becoming increasingly difficult to guarantee a safe boundary for your sensitive data. In the wake of the pandemic, accelerated digital adoption was crucial for business continuity. However, as employees work from home, traditional perimeter security solutions have proven ineffective in the face of an expanding threat surface and highly sophisticated cyberattacks.

This new climate does not just put proprietary information at risk, it also makes complying with regulations much more difficult. When users, applications and data sit outside your perimeter defences, it becomes difficult to provide geospecific access or enforce encryption over regulated data.

To ensure data is protected while productivity remains high, organisations need an integrated, cloud-delivered approach to cybersecurity. Security Service Edge (SSE) as defined by Gartner in 2022 has become the go-to framework to achieve that.

SSE is closely related to Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), a concept conceived in 2019 when organisations were struggling with new data security requirements that emerged from the increasing adoption of cloud technologies — a trend only hastened by the pandemic. SSE goes beyond just having the right alphabets in your soup, it’s the idea of consolidating security technologies in the cloud to reduce complexity and enhance data security as employees access the web, cloud services and private apps from anywhere.

With apps and data increasingly residing in the cloud, users now expect seamless access from anywhere and on any device. However, this has resulted in organisations grappling with complexity due to security controls deployed with disparate on-premises tools anchored to data centres. As a result, the ability to secure data while migrating to the cloud is compromised.

Unlike traditional security which is costly and inefficient because it had become a mishmash of disparate products, SSE technologies have to be integrated with the goal of securing sensitive data and reducing risk. To do so effectively, security teams need integrated insights into users, endpoints, data and apps.

An SSE framework could include the integration of endpoint security, with advanced users and data protection capabilities. With these native to the platform, we can enforce intelligent Zero Trust access to varying degrees of granularity that matches both the risk level of users and endpoints and the sensitivity level of the data. The following are consolidated solutions that make up an SSE framework:

User and entity behaviour analytics (UEBA)

Your data is often put in harm's way due to stolen credentials or an insider acting maliciously. This is where UEBA comes in, monitoring the fluctuating risk levels of your users. By understanding how your users typically behave, you can spot when an account — whether it’s compromised or being used by a legitimate user for malicious activities — is putting your data at risk.

Data loss prevention (DLP)

To make smart access decisions, you also need to know the sensitivity level of the data your users seek to access. With advanced DLP integrated into the system, security teams are able to take granular actions. For example, you may want to watermark or redact certain content instead of blocking access so you protect sensitive information while allowing work to get done.

Enterprise digital rights management (EDRM)

The final layer of data security is the ability to automate encryption. In 2021,12 000 sensitive files were stolen from pharmaceutical company Pfizer, including trade secrets related to its COVID-19 vaccines. While Pfizer knew of the sensitive nature of the data taken and which user had done it, they weren’t able to stop it. With EDRM, organisations can encrypt data while it's downloaded so that only authorised users can access, even when shared offline.

To secure data and reduce risk, an organisation must adopt a platform that incorporates endpoint security with SSE that natively integrates UEBA, advanced DLP and EDRM to keep data secure wherever it goes. This would enable organisations to implement Zero Trust to protect data, reduce risk and increase operational efficiency by closing gaps created by disparate point products.