Cisco SASE Solution: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN integrated with Cisco Secure Access At-a-Glance

Navigating the complexities of modern IT security in a highly distributed landscape

The digital landscape is evolving at breakneck speed, and securing your data is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity. The rise of hybrid work, cloud adoption, and sophisticated attacks has compounded these challenges, necessitating a paradigm shift in networking and security strategies.

Traditional security models, reliant on centralized perimeters, struggle to adapt to the dynamic, distributed realities of modern IT environments. This leaves organizations vulnerable to many threats, jeopardizing data, applications, and user trust.

To effectively protect today’s environment, organizations require multilayered security deployed in the cloud and rooted in zero-trust principles. This means bringing security closer to the user and the cloud edge, for comprehensive protection regardless of location or access point.

The changing network and security landscape: A new approach is essential

Introducing the integration of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN with our SSE solution ‒ Cisco Secure Access

Today’s enterprise IT, networking, and security professionals demand straightforward, simple, and effective solutions. At Cisco, we eliminate complexities, helping ensure a seamlessly integrated experience for both users and IT. As organizations leverage their existing SD-WAN, they may encounter advanced security needs, driven by the challenges we discussed earlier. This can lead them toward a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) environment, which combines their SD-WAN with consolidated, cloud-delivered security, known as the Security Service Edge (SSE).

Cisco Catalyst^™ SD-WAN facilitates this transition by seamlessly integrating with our SSE solution: Cisco Secure Access. This game-changing integration empowers IT administrators with an automated solution, delivering not only highly resilient cloud security but also an optimal experience for end users.

Securing branches and roaming users with ease

Branch offices and roaming users face heightened vulnerability to cyberthreats, especially with the growing adoption of Direct Internet Access (DIA). The seamless integration of Catalyst SD-WAN and Cisco Secure Access within a SASE architecture effectively addresses these concerns by effortlessly extending robust cloud security measures across the entire SD-WAN fabric.

Catalyst SD-WAN and Secure Access integration – Evolve to full SASE

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN and Cisco Secure Access: Enhanced Security with Context Sharing

Enhance your organization's security posture by safeguarding internet-bound traffic originating from Catalyst SD-WAN branches. This integration leverages Cisco ISE to synchronize critical network context, including Security Group Tags (SGTs) and VPN/VRF information, between Catalyst SD-WAN and Cisco Secure Access. By utilizing this rich network context, Cisco Secure Access can enforce uniform policies across your network, protecting sensitive data and users from emerging threats.

This deep integration empowers your organization to:

●      Strengthen Security Posture: Apply precise security controls to internet-bound traffic based on user, device, and network context.

●      Simplify Policy Management: Leverage SGTs for efficient policy creation and management.

●      Enhance Visibility: Gain deeper insights into network traffic patterns and security posture.

Prepare your network for the future with Catalyst SD-WAN and Secure Access: Accelerate your SASE journey

Imagine securing every user across your Catalyst SD-WAN within minutes, through a single configuration, without the need for additional appliances. That’s the power of Cisco’s seamless integration between Catalyst SD-WAN and Cisco Secure Access. Together they form the foundation of Cisco’s Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture. The SASE model streamlines your cloud-based security and network functions, offering comprehensive end-to-end observability. This empowers you to deliver seamless, secure access to any application, regardless of user location.

Take advantage of Catalyst SD-WAN and Cisco Secure Access integration to achieve:

●      Enhanced security with SASE: Elevate internet and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) traffic protection at branch offices with Cisco Secure Access. Easily steer traffic for additional security.

●      Faster deployment: Automatically connect Cisco Secure Access and Catalyst SD-WAN Manager through Smart Accounts, enabling effortless deployment across your entire network. This significantly reduces branch office setup time.

●      Simplified management: Manage connectivity and provision thousands of sites to Cisco Secure Access in minutes, with just a few clicks from a single, centralized dashboard.

Benefits

●      Operational efficiency at its finest: Simplify and expedite security implementation with policy-based routing and automated tunnel failover, minimizing complexity and helping ensure smooth operation.

●      Empower users with consistent security, anywhere they go: Cisco^® Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) helps ensure seamless and consistent security for roaming users, regardless of their location. This translates to a flawless user experience, no matter where they connect.

●      Unparalleled business agility: Scale security effortlessly to meet your evolving business needs without worrying about hardware limitations or procurement cycles, enabling rapid and flexible adaptation.

●      Protect your network with multilayered security: Enjoy deeper inspection and enhanced protection with comprehensive security features. This robust suite includes DNS-layer security, web filtering, cloud access security broker, cloud firewall, data loss prevention, remote browser isolation, sandbox, and more, safeguarding everyone on your network.

●      Unmatched resiliency and performance: Benefit from industry-leading 8-GB bandwidth and Equal-Cost Multipath (ECMP) load balancing for optimal traffic flow and unwavering network reliability.

●      Stay ahead of threats with industry-leading intelligence: Leverage the power of seamlessly integrated Cisco Talos^® threat intelligence. This real-time threat analysis empowers your network to identify, correlate, and remediate threats at exceptional speed, helping ensure an optimal security posture.

Learn more

Elevate your network’s security and performance with the seamless integration of Catalyst SD-WAN and Cisco Secure Access. Discover a new era of simplicity, scalability, and superior user experience.

Watch the Cisco Secure Access ‒ Catalyst SD-WAN Integration Video.

Learn more about Catalyst SD-WAN.