What Is SASE? Understanding Secure Access Service Edge for Security

What Is SASE?

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) is a single cloud-based network architecture that combines Wide-Area Networking (WAN) with network security capabilities, such as:

• Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
• Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
• Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS)
• Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)

SASE is a term Gartner introduced in its 2019 paper “The Future of Network Security Is in the Cloud.” It includes both networking and security functions delivered from the cloud.

Within that broader concept, Gartner carves out Security Service Edge (SSE) as a narrower slice: the set of cloud-based security capabilities alone, without the networking elements that complete an entire SASE architecture.

The SASE model is identity-driven (integrating user identity into access decisions), cloud-native (built to run across distributed cloud locations), and supports secure access for any edge. SASE solutions offer greater agility and scalability than traditional on-premises hardware because they are built for how organizations operate today, with heavy cloud reliance, a flexible workforce, and advanced cyber threats.

How Does SASE Work?

A SASE architecture works by connecting and securing any physical, cloud, or mobile enterprise resource in any location. Regardless of where users connect, whether from headquarters, a branch office, or a home office, their traffic is routed through the nearest cloud-based security service, ensuring consistent protection across every connection.

The architecture also allows security teams to maintain complete visibility and inspection of traffic while reducing latency and improving access speeds for distributed users. This approach makes SASE highly suitable for enterprises embracing cloud, remote work, and global operations.

How SASE works:

1. SASE uses a worldwide network of cloud points of presence (PoPs) to enforce security policies close to the user’s location instead of funneling traffic through centralized data center firewalls.
2. In a typical SASE deployment, branch offices use SD-WAN to route traffic directly to the SASE cloud, while roaming users use an endpoint agent to funnel their traffic through SASE.
3. An SD-WAN will steer branch site traffic for the internet or cloud through the SASE security cloud (rather than backhauled to a data center) and connect branches to private data centers as needed.
4. Meanwhile, users not on the corporate network run a SASE client/agent on their device, which sends their traffic to the nearest SASE point of presence.
5. Traffic is identified, authenticated, and filtered through multiple security layers before being forwarded to its destination, such as a cloud application, website, or internal application.
6. User sessions and security events are logged in the SASE platform through a single cloud-based dashboard.

Key Components of SASE

The key components of SASE converge network and security functions into a single cloud-delivered service, replacing the patchwork of point products with a more efficient, centralized model.

Aligning with this framework, the six essential components of a SASE solution include:

1. SD-WAN (Software-Defined WAN)

An SD-WAN routes traffic over diverse links (MPLS, broadband, 4G/5G, etc.) and ensures reliable network connectivity. It provides dynamic path selection and optimization for applications.

In SASE:

• SD-WAN is cloud-managed and extends connectivity directly into the SASE provider’s network, creating the “access service edge” that links branch locations and users to the SASE cloud.
• In its 2024 Magic Quadrant for SD-WAN, Gartner predicts that by 2026, 60% of new SD-WAN purchases will be part of a single-vendor SASE offering (up from only 15% in 2023), highlighting how tightly SD-WAN and SASE are converging.

2. Secure Web Gateway (SWG)

SWG is a cloud-based web proxy that filters internet-bound traffic.

In SASE:

• SWGs block access to malicious websites, enforce acceptable use policies, decrypt SSL/TLS traffic for inspection, and prevent web-borne threats like malware and phishing.
• SWG is delivered as a service at the edge, protecting users’ web access with consistent security policies everywhere.

Based on Group-IB’s investigations into the PostalFurious phishing gang, this phishing investigation guide helps organizations investigate phishing campaigns more efficiently. Solutions like Group-IB’s Digital Risk Protection, part of the Unified Risk Platform, can reveal fraudulent infrastructure at early stages and initiate the takedown process.

3. Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)

CASB protects the use of cloud applications.

In SASE:

• It sits between users and cloud services to enforce security policies, such as preventing unauthorized data uploads/downloads and controlling access based on device or location.
• CASB functions are integrated to provide visibility and control over all cloud app traffic, often including data loss prevention (DLP) and user behavior analytics.

4. Firewall as a Service (FWaaS)

FWaaS provides traditional firewall and intrusion prevention capabilities without on-prem hardware.

In SASE:

• FWaaS is globally distributed, inspecting traffic between any user and any application.
• It can include advanced threat detection (e.g., sandboxing, anti-malware) to stop attacks in real time.

5. Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)

Replacing traditional VPNs, ZTNA is a core security paradigm of SASE.

In SASE:

• ZTNA verifies users’ and devices’ identity, context, and policy compliance for every access request.
• Using the “never trust, always verify” approach, ZTNA minimizes the attack surface and prevents lateral movement by attackers.

6. Centralized Management

SASE solutions offer centralized management and visibility, allowing administrators to define and enforce policies across all the above components.

In SASE:

• Administrators define policies in one console, and SASE pushes those out globally – meaning whether a user is in headquarters or remote on home Wi-Fi, they receive the same level of security and access control.
• A single unified management platform simplifies operations by providing global security teams with combined analytics and reporting.

Why SASE Is Essential for Modern Enterprise Security

SASE security is essential for businesses because it provides consistent protection across distributed environments, including edge computing, cloud applications, and remote workforces.

According to Cybersecurity Insiders’ 2025 State of Secure Network Report, only 8% of organizations have fully implemented SASE solutions. However, adoption is accelerating, with 32% currently in progress and 24% planning implementation in the next 12 months.

Here are the challenges organizations face today that are fueling the adoption of SASE:

• Many enterprise IT teams are at a breaking point managing complex, multi-vendor networks.
• The rise of remote and hybrid work has permanently changed network demands, leaving traditional perimeter-based security struggling to keep up with increased attacks on remote access solutions.
• Legacy network security is centralized and expensive, causing bottlenecks at branch and retail sites.
• Relying on SaaS and cloud services instead of internal data centers often creates latency and security gaps when traffic is routed back through central firewalls.

With SASE, enterprises can:

• Reduce reliance on multiple fragmented security solutions to simplify management by consolidating tools and services.
• Minimize the risk of breach and data leak by applying consistent identity-based controls and real-time traffic inspection everywhere, no matter where employees connect.
• Eliminate bottlenecks and improve user experience by bringing security inspection directly to branch and retail edges through cloud-delivered services.
• Support digital transformation without compromising security by protecting data from misconfigurations and threats like cloud jacking.

Discover essential steps to protect your organization’s public cloud data from the latest cloud infrastructure threats.

SASE vs. Traditional Network Security

Traditional network security approaches are location-centric and appliance-heavy, whereas SASE security is user-centric and cloud-delivered. Security follows the user (edge-to-edge) with SASE, while conventional security stays anchored to on-premises infrastructure and fixed perimeters.

The table below highlights the differences between SASE and traditional network security models.

Benefits of SASE

The benefits of SASE lie in its capabilities to secure the mobile, cloud-enabled enterprise from the ground up. Organizations transitioning to SASE often report a more agile network, a stronger security posture, and easier operations.

We’ll explore the key benefits of SASE in more detail below.

1. Consistent Security and Threat Detection Across the Network

SASE applies the same policies to every user, device, and location, inspecting traffic at the edge so threats are blocked in real time, without backhaul delays.

Machine-learning models in an SWG or FWaaS can detect zero-day malware or phishing attempts based on behavior, and cloud-based sandboxing can analyze suspicious files.

When you feed SASE alerts into Group-IB’s Managed Extended Detection and Response (Managed XDR), they merge with endpoint and cloud telemetry, giving analysts a single view to help detect and respond to threats quickly.

2. Improved Application Performance and Bandwidth Optimization

Thanks to intelligent traffic routing and SD-WAN capabilities, SASE delivers a more consistent, high-quality user experience that minimizes legacy networks’ “trombone” effect.

Many SASE providers have built-in WAN optimization tools (such as data deduplication and compression) and private backbone networks that can speed up long-distance traffic and improve bandwidth utilization.

3. Simplify Infrastructure and Operations

Consolidating networking and security functions into a single cloud service means fewer systems to deploy and manage.

IT teams no longer have to juggle multiple appliances at each location, allowing them to focus on strategic tasks rather than maintaining a patchwork of legacy systems.

4. Network Adaptability and On-Demand Scalability

SASE solutions can scale instantly as your organization grows or usage patterns change. You can extend secure access to new users, branches, or third-party partners without significant infrastructure changes.

Security teams can update identity-based controls centrally and deploy them globally without manual reconfiguration or downtime.

5. Cost Efficiency

Consolidating point solutions into SASE can reduce upfront appliance capital and ongoing maintenance costs. Preventing breaches and improving uptime delivers additional long-term financial savings by avoiding incidents and productivity loss.

Challenges and Considerations in Adopting SASE

Challenges in adopting SASE center on time-to-value, network overhaul, and organizational readiness. While SASE brings many benefits, implementing it is not a flip-a-switch transformation.

Forrester’s 2025 trend report, “The State of Secure Access Service Edge,” notes that SASE has a benefit horizon of five years or more to realize maximum return.

Other critical challenges and considerations we frequently see when adopting SASE include:

Legacy Infrastructure and Transformation Readiness

Upgrading to SASE works best with a modern, cloud-friendly mindset and infrastructure.

Key considerations:

• A full SASE implementation might be overkill or face integration hurdles if a company’s apps are still mostly on-prem and its workforce rarely works remotely.
• Such organizations must address underlying IT modernization (for instance, updating operating systems, adopting cloud services, etc.) before effectively embracing SASE.
• A hybrid approach often keeps specific legacy systems in place while gradually shifting appropriate users and traffic to SASE.

Organizational Silos

Adopting SASE requires significant network and security architecture changes, which can stall project rollouts if teams are not aligned.

Key considerations:

• Internal resistance to abandoning tried-and-true appliances or processes may exist over who owns what part of the SASE stack.
• Teams that historically managed separate network and security silos need to collaborate or even merge.
• Strong executive support and clear communication about SASE’s benefits are key to driving this change. Piloting SASE in a limited scope can help demonstrate its value before a wider rollout.

Integration with Existing Tools

New cloud-based security services must seamlessly integrate with legacy systems across multiple components. Most SASE solutions support APIs and integration points, but companies that do not integrate carefully risk misconfigurations or security gaps during the transition.

Key considerations:

• Can the SASE service feed logs and alerts be sent to existing Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platforms or SOAR systems for incident response? How will identity management (e.g., your Active Directory or SSO provider) integrate with the SASE cloud for user authentication and policy assignment?
• Multi-vendor SASE strategies may require external support or managed services to solve interoperability issues (such as API and policy-mapping conflicts), which can increase costs and delay deployment.
• Adopting a single-vendor SASE, where businesses get the full suite (over multiple partial solutions) from one provider, offers better integration and simplicity.

Organizations should also be mindful of service variations since every provider markets SASE differently, aligning it with their own product strengths. Recent industry efforts, like the MEF 3.0 SASE certification program, help customers compare certified SASE solutions using standardized integration, security, and performance criteria across SD-WAN, ZT, and SSE.

Compliance and Data Privacy

Industries with strict data residency requirements must know where the SASE provider’s data centers are and how data is handled.

Key considerations:

• Suppose your business must keep specific data within the EU or the U.S. In that case, you’ll want an SASE provider guaranteeing that all inspections and logging align with frameworks such as GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, or local data residency laws.
• Any mismatch between SASE logging, retention, or decryption practices and these regulations can trigger fines or force costly redesigns.
• Decrypting and inspecting traffic, especially SSL inspection by SWG/FWaaS, requires companies to establish privacy policies on what can be checked and ensure users are informed as necessary.

Best Practices for SASE Implementation

Enterprises can increase their chances of a smooth SASE rollout by aligning teams, adopting a phased approach, and consistently monitoring performance. Below, we’ll dive deeper into these best practices with strategies that you can use to implement SASE successfully.

1. Align Network and Security Teams

In a SASE environment, there is substantial overlap in support and architectural functions between network ops and security teams, so much so that organizations should consider aligning these groups from the outset.

Tips to implement:

• Reorganize responsibilities by establishing a cross-functional SASE project team, including network engineers, security architects, IT ops, and compliance officers.
• Mirror the DevOps model (“NetSecOps”) to bring teams together for smoother deployment by integrating the workflows and tools of both teams.
• Cross-train staff on the new platform and processes to break down knowledge barriers.

2. Adopt a Phased Approach

SASE offers a broad set of capabilities, and attempting a big-bang implementation is unnecessary. You can adopt SASE components at a pace that makes sense, eventually arriving at the complete converged solution.

Tips to implement:

• Start by assessing your organization’s needs and identifying a pilot project. Branch offices can be migrated to a SASE-based SD-WAN, and a few cloud security services can be enabled as a trial.
• It’s also possible to implement the “security” part of SASE first, or SSE, for companies that want to modernize their web gateway, CASB, and ZTNA but aren’t ready to overhaul networking.
• Outline a roadmap that gradually expands SASE coverage (e.g., web traffic, cloud app traffic, private application access).

3. Integrate Incident Response and Digital Forensics

While most SASE solutions today focus on prevention and detection rather than explicit forensic features, organizations should proactively incorporate forensic-ready logging and evidence preservation into their SASE functions. Digital forensic readiness helps organizations respond efficiently to incidents in a SASE environment.

Tips to implement:

• Enable logging that captures detailed forensic evidence across all SASE functions (SWG, CASB, ZTNA, FWaaS, SD-WAN).
• Establish capabilities for securely storing and easily accessing forensic data, including encrypted traffic from SD-WAN.
• Regularly test and validate that forensic evidence can be reliably retrieved from your SASE solution during incidents. Plan for breach investigations in a SASE deployment

Forensic-ready logging in SASE enables organizations to leverage digital forensics services by providing comprehensive, actionable investigation evidence. Group-IB’s digital forensics experts will extract pre-captured data to reconstruct incidents accurately, determine the scope of compromise, and identify attackers.

4. Continuously Monitor Security Metrics and Performance

Treat SASE as a living architecture that you refine as needs change. Organizations that get the most from SASE actively use its visibility and control features to tighten security and optimize traffic on an ongoing basis.

Tips to implement:

• Once deployed, continuously monitor your network and security metrics. Regularly review the configuration in light of new business applications or new threats.
• Gather feedback from users on any performance or access issues. Over time, you may need to tweak routing policies, adjust security rules, or onboard new capabilities.
• Use the SASE platform’s analytics to identify bottlenecks or policy mismatches.

The Future of SASE in Cybersecurity

Enterprises should incorporate SASE (along with zero trust principles and comprehensive threat management) into their long-term security plans. SASE models will continue to strengthen and serve as the backbone of network security strategies.

Furthermore, mainstream adoption is growing as more organizations see SASE as the go-to model for securing an increasingly hybrid IT landscape. Single-vendor consolidation is gaining traction because many businesses prefer to trust a single vendor for the most of their network and security needs.

As SASE solutions advance, the following trends and developments in cybersecurity are likely:

Focus on Zero Trust Everywhere

Zero Trust principles will become deeply ingrained in SASE offerings.

What to expect:

• Companies will replace VPNs with Zero Trust solutions.
• The concept of least-privilege access and continuous verification will extend to user/application access (via ZTNA), device health, IoT network access, and more.
• SASE products and services will offer more granular context-based access control

Threat Intelligence and AI in SASE

SASE platforms will integrate real-time threat intelligence and AI automation to stay ahead of advanced threats.

What to expect:

• Automated threat detection will be combined with security controls to pre-empt modern attacks.
• Threat intelligence feeds can arm SASE services with real-time updates of malicious domains, emerging malware signatures, and threat actor tactics.
• AI algorithms that detect anomalies in user behavior across the SASE cloud or automatically adjust routing to block suspicious behavior and initiate response workflows

Protection for Cloud and Edge Computing

Businesses are using public clouds and moving toward edge computing and serverless architectures. SASE will evolve to protect data at edge nodes, secure APIs, and manage identities in a highly distributed environment.

What to expect:

• Securing connections between IoT/edge devices and cloud services will become a more prominent feature of SASE solutions.
• As 5G networks expand, we may see SASE solutions optimized for mobile and edge connectivity.
• Distributed architectures (factories with IoT sensors, autonomous vehicles, etc.) can plug into the secure SASE fabric.

Group-IB’s Cyber Predictions blog highlights that attackers increasingly target cloud infrastructure and abuse cloud services to launch attacks. SASE’s ability to enforce security across web, cloud, and private apps in a unified way will be instrumental in mitigating the security risks associated with cloud targeting.

Integrating SASE into Group-IB’s Security Ecosystem

As with any security measure, adversaries will seek ways to bypass or undermine SASE controls. To create a more resilient security posture, businesses can enhance their SASE deployments by integrating additional cybersecurity capabilities, such as threat intelligence feeds, advanced detection and response tools, and email security.

These additional security features help you build a unified strategy focused on prevention, detection, and rapid response. Here’s how Group-IB’s security ecosystem complements your SASE deployment:

• A SASE platform generates a wealth of log data, which can be a treasure trove for threat hunters and incident responders. Forwarding SASE logs into Group-IB’s Managed XDR platform provides a complete picture of suspicious activity that spans network, endpoint, and cloud to detect and respond to threats quickly.
• Group-IB’s Threat Intelligence can be fed into a SASE platform to continuously update it with the latest malicious domains associated with phishing campaigns or C2 servers. This enables the SASE SWG to block outbound traffic to those sites in real time.
• Group-IB’s Business Email Protection complements your SASE architecture by covering all major attack vectors. It defends against phishing, business email compromise (BEC), malware attachments, and other email-borne attacks.

Integrating SASE with the right capabilities helps to maximize the performance of every security component, ensuring your organization stays agile. Get in touch with our experts today to discuss how Group-IB can enhance your SASE deployment.