In 2019 Gartner first coined the term Secure Access Service Edge (SASE). However, in the “Hype Cycle for Cloud Security, 2021” Gartner refers to Security Service Edge (SSE), and since published the "2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for SSE".

In this blog post, we dive into this latest term, why it is different from SASE and why your business should adopt an SSE strategy.

What is SSE?

SSE is a term defined by Gartner referring to the evolving security stack needed to successfully achieve a SASE convergence, including technology capabilities such as:

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

SSE secures access to the web, cloud services and private applications. Capabilities include access control, threat protection, data security, security monitoring and acceptable use control, all enforced by network- and API-based integration.- Gartner

How is SSE different to SASE?

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) describes an architecture framework that consolidates networking and security delivered as a unified service from the cloud, SSE describes the security-as-a-service portion of this framework, leaving out the networking-as-a-service element.

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Key SSE benefits

“SSE technologies allow organizations to support workers anywhere and anytime, using a cloud-centric approach for the enforcement of security policy. It offers immediate opportunities to reduce complexity and improve user experience by consolidating multiple disparate security capabilities into a single product.”   - Gartner

• Risk reduction - SSE uses a zero-trust architecture that combines identity, policy, and context to securely connect business users to key business apps and reduce your overall attack surface.
• Improved experience - SSE increases the presence of secure access technologies by extending security services to the edge via a cloud architecture. This helps to minimize latency and deliver a better experience to end-users.
• Consolidation - As SSE unifieS key security services, it means you'll see consolidation benefits such as reduced complexity and costs.

How can Cyber Vigilance help?

We are partnered with some of the leading SSE technology vendors such as Netskope and Zscaler to help our customers on their transformation journey.

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